You are here: Homepage >> Events In Cardiff >> Sports >> Express Eventing
Express Eventing
When: Sunday 30th November 2008 - 10am - 5pm
Where: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff City Centre
Express Eventing is one of the most exciting developments in the sport today. It is set to do for eventing what Twenty20 has done for international cricket. Express Eventing turns three days of competition into one fast-paced day of world class action, all under one roof, with drama at every turn.
Tickets available from £35 (adult) & £17.50 (under 14s) on TicketMaster.co.uk
Express Eventing is a radical new compact version of the sport of eventing, designed for arenas and stadiums around the world. It condenses all the drama and excitement of traditional eventing into just half a day, with all the action visible from one seat.
For the first time, you will be able to watch eventing's elite riders complete all three disciplines under one roof, knowing exactly what each needs to do to win. Expert commentaries, a new system of scoring, state-of-the-art stadium technology and the highly concentrated competition format will all combine to ensure a thrilling experience, even for spectators who know nothing about the sport.
The competition will start with a freestyle dressage programme, set to music, where horse and rider will be judged not only on the degree of difficulty, but on their artistic interpretation. Competitors will then enter the combined jumping stage, a first for eventing. Once the last show jump is completed, a 'pit-stop' tack change will enable horse and rider to prepare for the challenges of the cross-country course.
This is eventing as you have never known it before and is one of the most exciting developments in the sport today. It will be a glamorous new addition to the sporting calendar, which will introduce the thrill of eventing to a wider, global audience.
The Express Eventing International Cup will be launched on Sunday 30 November 2008 in the dramatic setting of Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. It will be a competition for the crème de la crème of eventing, when top riders from around the world will showcase their talents in this exciting new version of the sport.
Each year, riders will qualify to participate in the International Cup, which will start to be rolled out in 2009 as a series of Express Eventing competitions in international sporting locations.
Olympic medallist Bettina Hoy, Swedish star Linda Olgottson, American Buck Davidson and European champion Nicolas Touzaint are the latest riders to sign up to compete in the Express Eventing International Cup.
Sixteen other world class riders have already signed up - British Olympians Mary King, Tina Cook and William Fox-Pitt, British riders Lucy Wiegersma and Oliver Townend, New Zealand Olympians Mark Todd, Andrew Nicholson and Caroline Powell, German Dirk Schrade, Belgian Karin Donckers, Italian Vittoria Panizzon, American Philip Dutton, Australians Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks, Chinese teenager Alex Hua Tian and Rodolphe Scherer from France.