Dressage-News

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Aug. 9–Organizers from five nations–Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Poland–have applied to stage a European championship for seniors in one or several FEI disciplines in 2015 under a new bid process implemented by the FEI earlier this year. The objective of the new bid process is to raise the profile of the FEI European Championships by selecting candidates able to deliver sporting events of the highest quality.

Aachen, host of the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games and the annual World Equestrian Festival, has expressed interest in the FEI European Championships 2015 in jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, vaulting and reining. Five applications, by far the most of any discipline, were received for eventing.

The bidding process for the 2015 European Championships for Seniors was launched in March and will run until April, 2012. The process consists of two phases. During Phase I, the Applicant Phase which ended July 31, applicants were required to indicate which championships they would be interested in staging and provide information relating to their ability to meet minimum championship requirements.

Phase II, the Candidate Phase, will begin on Sept. 1 during which candidates will be required to provide greater detail on all aspects of the event. Championships in the Olympic disciplines of jumping, dressage and eventing will be allocated by the FEI Bureau in April, 2012. Championships in the non Olympic disciplines will be announced in April, 2013.

Aachen applied to host all six disciplines. Rotterdam, which is hosting this year’s dressage European Championships, applied for the jumping championships. Blair Castle in Britain; Waregem in Belgium; Strzegom in Poland, and Breda, The Netherlands, applied for eventing.