Dressage-News

A Canadian delegation preparing Bromont as the host for the 2018 World Equestrian Games made an in-depth presentation to the International Equestrian Federation’s Evaluation Committee Wednesday as the sole remaining bidder for the showcase event held once every four years.

The presentation by the seven-member delegation to hold the WEG on a rehabilitated 1976 Olympic equestrian venue was part of what the FEI described as “the final stages of the bidding process for the hosting rights” to the 2018 WEG.

The WEG was first held in Stockholm in 1990 and has been held every four years since in Europe except for Lexington, Kentucky in 2010, and are the world championships of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, reining and vaulting.

Just eight months ago, five cities were named by the FEI as “official bidders”–Rabata, Morocco; Bromont, Canada; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria and Wellington, Florida. Since then, all but Bromont have dropped out.

In the same period, the 2015 World Cups of dressage and jumping, the annual global championships, were pulled from Guadalajara, Mexico. Las Vegas, Nevada whose bid lost out to the Mexican city initially, was asked to consider picking up the 2015 event.

Paul Côté, President of the Bromont Bid Committee, led the Canadian delegation in the presentation at the FEI headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Other members were the Mayor of Bromont Pauline Quinlan; President of Equine Canada Mike Gallagher; President of Bromont International Roger DesLauriers; technical advisor Leopoldo Palacios; President of the Bromont Olympic Park Marcel Bundock and Bromont Bid Director Benoit Girardin.

The presentation included details on delivery of the sport, including horse welfare and anti-doping; the competition venue; the financial plan and revenue generation strategy; public and private partners; the local organizing committee, risk management and security, and the legacies to Canadian equestrian sport.

The Bromont bid committee plans to use the Montreal 1976 Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony and the Bromont Equestrian Park, which staged the equestrian events in the 1976 Olympic Games, is the proposed venue for all seven disciplines in 2018.

The 2014 Games will be held in Normandy, France.

“We’ve had an extremely constructive and positive meeting with the FEI today and it’s provided a good opportunity for us to present and explain our bid to the FEI team”, Bid Committee President Paul Côté said.

“The Committee now better understands the expectations and requirements for the FEI World Equestrian Games and we feel confident that we can organize and manage the Games in 2018. We are looking forward to presenting to the FEI Bureau in July and hearing the final decision. Getting the 2018 Games could change the sport forever in our country.”

The FEI Evaluation Commission will now produce a full report for the FEI Bureau, which will make the final deision.

Once that has been reviewed by the Bureau, the Bromont bid team will return to Lausanne to meet with the Bureau July 1, which coincidentally is Canada Day, for the Bureau to vote on the allocation.

“The World Equestrian Games is the FEI’s flagship event, so the bid process is extremely important to us and we were very happy to welcome the Bromont bid committee to FEI Headquarters today,” FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos said.

“They gave us an excellent presentation and the members of the Evaluation Commission were very impressed with the attention to detail outlined in the Bromont bid. The team here in headquarters is now looking forward to evaluating all the elements and putting together a detailed report that will form part of the final decision making process, but ultimately of course the allocation of the 2018 Games rests with the Bureau.”

The FEI Evaluation Commission is made up of Secretary General Ingmar De Vos; Commercial Executive Director Carsten Couchouron; Jumping Director John Roche; Dressage Director Trond Asmyr; Eventing & Olympic Director Catrin Norinder; Endurance Director Ian Williams; Non-Olympic Sports Director Bettina de Rham; General Counsel Lisa Lazarus; Veterinary Director Graeme Cooke, Director Governance and Executive Affairs Sabrina Zeender, and Press Relations Director Grania Willis.