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Australia sends two riders to Olympic Test Event in Hong Kong
Beijing 2008 Equestrian Pictogram |
Australia will send two riders and horses to the Olympic Test Event. The event is part of a number of sport features celebrating the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong becoming part of China and has ‘Good Luck Beijing – HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup’ as its official title.
Eventers Shane Rose riding Statford Novalis and Megan Jones on Kirby Park Fedwell will be Australia’s two representatives. Both riders are very experienced. Most recently, Megan was part of the bronze medal team at the 2006 World Equestrian Games Team in Aachen, Germany, and Shane finished third at the prestigious Burghley Horse Trials.
Both Megan & Shane currently have horses on the National Elite Squad and are in contention for the Australian Olympic Team to be named in July next year.
Some of the other riders in contention for Olympic Team selection next year will also attend the Test event. They are three-time Olympic Team gold medallist Andrew Hoy, recent winner of the famous Badminton Horse Trials Lucinda Fredericks, and Lucinda’s husband Clayton who took the individual silver medal and team bronze medal at last year’s the World Equestrian Games.
The EFA appreciate the support of the Australian Sports Commission, which has once again provided much needed support for the preparation of our Teams for next year’s Olympic Games. Apart from assisting with the costly horse transport to this event, it gives key management personnel including National Team Coach Wayne Roycroft and National Team Vet Denis Goulding the opportunity to attend.
The Australian delegation will observe the running of the event, inspect facilities and learn important lessons for the preparation of the Australian team going to the Games. Olympic test events are conducted to try out systems and procedures set up for the Games. In this case, National Federations will also gain a better understanding of the weather conditions during and their effect on horses and rider.
We hope that this important “intelligence” will give us a winning edge and help continue Australia’s great medal tradition.
The event is classified as a CCI 2-Star and will be held 11 – 13 August 2007. Australian horses and riders will depart from Sydney on 01 August 2007.
