After the success of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games preparatory trial in July, Great Meadow organizers have announced that they will host the Great Meadow International CIC***, June 19-21, 2015, in The Plains, Va.
The U.S. Eventing Technical Committee approved the date, which according to Great Meadow Foundation President Rob Banner will likely be used as a preparatory trial or final outing for the 2015 Pan American Games (Ontario) squad.
“We want it to become a world class three-day event park,” said Banner. “We approached [U.S. Eventing Chef d’Equipe] David O’Connor about holding competition here, and he said we’re ideal for a number of reasons—close to D.C., close to two four-lane highways, close to two equine hospitals, [and] we’ve already trained people for 30 years to come to Great Meadow for equestrian competitions.”
The 200-acre facility hosts the spring and fall Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase races, the Virginia Scottish Games, polo and previously hosted long-format Fédération Equestre Internationale events and horse trials for many years.
Recently the Great Meadow Foundation raised nearly $1.8 million to buy 174 acres of adjacent farmland that will be used for the new cross-country track, designed by Mike Etherington-Smith.
The late June date is four weeks before the start of eventing at the Pan American Games, but it also falls on the usual date of the local Surefire Horse Trials (Va.), held at four-star rider Jan Byyny’s farm in Purcellville.
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Banner said the organizing committee of the CIC*** is hoping to create a fun weekend and does not intend to take entries away from Surefire. Great Meadow will only offer the three-star CIC at this event.
“We’re trying to do something completely different than what Jan’s event is doing,” Banner said. “We were hoping that it would become an ‘eventing weekend’ and a good reason to come to the Middleburg area and enjoy amateur sport, professional sport, and cheer on a team to go to [the Pan American Games].”
Byyny was optimistic about the addition of a new event to the area, but hopes it won’t dilute her entries. “Right now I think the concept of it is a good one and we do need something like this in the area,” she said. “Hopefully it will be a good thing. From a competitor’s standpoint, I understand it. As an organizer I just don’t want it to be at the cost of Surefire.
“I think the hardest thing is that I’ve spent 10 years developing Surefire and we always try to do the best for our volunteers and our competitors and we’ve tried to make it better every year,” she continued. “I’m hoping having Great Meadow on the same weekend is not going to be at the cost of our event because we really enjoy doing it. Being a competitor myself, I like to give back to the sport and tune our event to make it better for horses and riders.”
Banner wasn’t sure if they would hold the same date in the future. Because the intention of bringing eventing back to Great Meadow is for it to become a training ground for the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team, the date might move into July depending on Olympic and World Games dates.
“We would like it to become a spectator-based model,” Banner said. “I know that at the top level of the sport, we need to promote what our best horses and riders do, and this is a great opportunity to bring that show here and show as many spectators as possible what high performance eventing can be all about.”
