World Equestrian Games - Will Tryon Be the Last Edition?

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Friday 05 October - 10h08 | Sébastien Roullier

It has been much debated, before, during and after the recent World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Tryon, USA, but were those Games, the last? Grand Prix's Sebastien Roullier looks at the issues surrounding the future of WEG.

Too expensive, too complicated to organize, not enough publicity: the World Equestrian Games – a fantastic concept on paper – have always sparked debates within the horse sport community. And those who have taken on the challenge of putting them on over the years have rarely managed to deliver a flawless event.

While the inaugural edition of the Games in Stockholm, which featured 'only' six disciplines in 1990, and those of Jerez de la Frontera and Aachen, which brought together seven in 2002 and 2006, provided very good and sometimes excellent memories for participants and spectators, that has not been the case for others. In 1994, the organizers of the Games in the Hague went bankrupt. In 1998, those in Rome kept their promises against all expectations but could not host an endurance race, which was relocated to Abu Dhabi. In 2010, the WEG in Lexington, Kentucky were saved by significant last-minute budget infusions – and even then all was not perfect. In 2014, Normandy created a great regional project, but experienced various logistical problems. Not to mention all the organizers, chosen by the Fédération Équestre Internationale, who have thrown in the towel along the way: Paris for the 1994 edition, Dublin for the following and Bromont for 2018.

After the small town in Quebec bowed out a little over two years ago, Mark Bellissimo came to the rescue of the FEI, offering a new host site for its flagship rendezvous. Indeed, Bellissimo promised that the Tryon WEG, to be held on his large property in nearby Mill Spring, North Carolina, would be the best yet. And convinced of the merits of his project, the American raised enough capital to invest nearly $250 million for a stadium and other site features – not to mention an operational budget of millions to deliver the event...

Read more here:
http://www.grandprix-replay.com/uk/article/5814/world-equestrian-games-will-tryon-bethe-last-edition-