Britain Withdraws from 2018 World Games Bid Process, Only North America Remains
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Great Britain will not make a bid for the World Equestrian Games in 2018, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) announced Monday, leaving only the United States and Canada as prospective hosts for the championships of seven global horse sports and para dressage.
The three remaining cities are Lexington, Kentucky, host of the 2010 WEG; Wellington, Florida, that stages the Winter Equestrian Equestrian and Global Dressage Festivals, and Bromont near Montreal in Canada whose bid was initially rejected because of a lack of government support but has been asked to re-submit a bid.
British Equestrian Federation Secretary General Andrew Finding informed the FEI that Britain will not pursue a bid.
In a letter to FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos, Andrew Finding wrote of his “considerable regret” at the withdrawal, stating that there was insufficient time under the terms of the new bidding process for the British Federation to secure the necessary funding and identify a host venue by the deadline for receipt of formal bid applications of Nov. 15.
“While it is of course disappointing that the British Equestrian Federation has decided not to go ahead with a bid for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018, we still have three strong candidates in the mix from Wellington, Kentucky and Bromont/Montreal and look forward to receiving their formal bid applications by 15 November,” Ingmar De Vos said.
Host city candidates will be announced Dec. 2, 2013.
Formal presentations will be made by these candidates to the FEI Bureau at its spring 2014 meeting, prior to the announcement of the host city for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018.
Normandy, France will host the 2014 WEG.
The world games, held every four years, in the middle of the Olympic cycle, include the three Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing and dressage as well as driving, endurance, reining and vaulting and para dressage.
The first WEG was held in Stockholm in 1990 and since then have been staged in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1994; Rome in 1998; Jerez, Spain in 2002; Aachen, Germany in 2006 and Kentucky in 2010.
Both Kentucky and Wellington have existing extensive facilities.
