RC Champs ground conditions

eventingdraft

eventingdraft

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Just returned from ALW and have to say I was pretty horrified by the state of the ground on xc. To say it was hard would be an understatement! And to add insult to injury the team there were busily preparing and watering the 2* track whilst completely ignoring the RC ones.

I was really excited to have qualified for the event and spent weeks preparing, not to mention driving a fair way to get there so was really gutted to see how little effort had been made. Not sure if it's a cost issue but it certainly hasn't made me keen to try and qualify for another one!

Think I'll be sticking to BE in future. What a shame as it's really good to support your local RC but not at the expense of your horse's soundness...
 
I'm really surprised at this as ALW is a renowned BE venue, and runs an unaff series too, and even for the unaff earlier this year they had watered the track.
 
To be fair we did the junior finals on friday and thought the going was not to bad, (yes hard but seen worst) much better than the last 2 events we have been to in the midlands in the last few weeks, (ok maybe by the end of XC it may not of ben so good) SJ arena was quite cut up and bumpy? but not sure if ALW can water all 4 tracks all the way round. So on the whole we were happy.
 
pokerface said:
do u know how the british 2 star team did? cant find any results anywhere
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Funny isn't it - and yet the last person who commented on the lack of transparency and promotion about this competition on here got roundly jumped on and told there had been lots of info about it. I still struggle with the concept that you can be team trainer and on the team without there being a conflict of interest, but perhaps I will understand it better if I am ever lucky enough to ride at that level.
 
I went and did the open there yesturday and i thought the ground was not that bad.

I went there and done the unaffiliated comp earlier this year and the ground was very bad then with hardly any grass cover, where yesturday i thought the ground had a better ground cover so did take some of the sting out of the ground. I did hear today that a lot of people where complaining about the ground.
 
pokerface said:
sorry did nt want to start a debate, just wondered if i was being dim and did nt know where to look up the results!
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Wendy from Kanteq posted this on her FB page
"GB wins European CIC** at Aston Le Walls - wonderful win, Belguim 2nd"

OP sorry you were disappointed by the ground - I would not be happy about that either
 
Guess we must just be very lucky here up north. It's been very dry this summer but I've still been nowhere as bad as ALW. Actually thought the SJ was much softer!

Just felt like they were making effort for the 2* but doing nothing for the RC even though it was a Championship. As I said before, just expected better given the occasion.
 
pokerface said:
do u know how the british 2 star team did? cant find any results anywhere
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I posted on here as soon as the results were confirmed on site - I was in the SJ judges box so got the info on here quite quickly.
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=475451

Team GBR won team gold with Mary Anne Carpenter taking an individual silver.

Johnathan Chapman finished in fourth place - missing out on the bronze medal by less than one SJ.

Full results will be on the BRC website as soon as the office staff upload them (They have been on site for the last four days with no access to the website)
I quite agree the publicity surrounding this pretigious event has been on the poor side - although information was readily available to those who actively sought it. All this talk of selection being 'shrouded in secrecy' etc is, to be frank, complete baloney!

I have been on site since last Monday, & heard no complaints about the going on the XC course. My own teams all said how well the courses rode - but then they all did quite well so I suppose that would be their conclusion !
It may come as a surprise but BRC engage a highly respected BE TD to oversee all aspects of the XC phase, & Nigel Taylor acted as the course designer on their behalf this year.
The total number of horses 'spun' from the senior intermediate & senior open competitions after the trot up on Sunday morning reached the grand total of six - going by those who didn't come forward for show jumping, so I can't quite see how running over the xc ground was a real risk to a fit horses soundness. However for those of you who feel that the ground at BE events is always superior lets hope the ALW team can work miracles in the next 4 days, as the next BE event there starts on the 11th...........
 
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Britain got team gold and individual silver


Last year at the champs although the ground was still hardish they put ENORMOUS amounts of work into the ground, they aerated/watered continuously for hours and put down wood chipping on the worst bits
 
Hmm. Other than the 2* course watering (which someone clearly felt was needed) I saw no wood-chippings or any other effort.

I agree anyone competing in the BE next weekend better start doing a raindance although I'm inclined to think that ALW would probably make more of an effort for them!
 
Zebedee said:
I quite agree the publicity surrounding this pretigious event has been on the poor side - although information was readily available to those who actively sought it.
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How do you actively seek it though? If you put 'European 2* championships' into google then not one of the first page is eventing, if you put 'European CIC championships' into google, most of the info is not from this year, if you put 'European CIC 2* championships' in, then you still don't get any info on results etc. I got bored with permutations after that! I think those are pretty obvious searches to do though.

All this talk of selection being 'shrouded in secrecy' etc is, to be frank, complete baloney!
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I know others may have said this, but I know nothing about the selection (see above re publicity ;)), and have not commented on whether it is shrouded in secrecy or not. I am uncomfortable with the conflict of interest which goes with being a trainer and on a team - unless the team trainer has no input into selection at all, including casual chats over a pint (which is perfectly possible, see point 1 above - no publicity to tell us either way!).

However for those of you who feel that the ground at BE events is always superior lets hope the ALW team can work miracles in the next 4 days, as the next BE event there starts on the 11th...........
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I agree...though if they've had the monsoon conditions we have today, I guess it won't be an issue!!

ETA: brilliant news about the GB results, I am pleased! I suppose the date probably means it will be eclipsed by British Champs reporting, which is a shame for all involved.
 
Have to say I thought the ground was hard and more could have been done like take off and landings etc, like most be do and
Think if no more rain they prob will for next week. I have seen a lot worse though and at be events I heard a few say it's hard I also thought the courses ESP novice were kind championship courses
 
i am sorry, but if you think 6 horses being spun at final horse inspection was not a lot, and if horses were also not presented, I personally think you are mistaken, six plus not presented is a lot....... have a look at most international three day events.....
 
Given that the Midlands seems to be in a very dry bubble at the moment, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the ground was hard.
We have had next to no rain for months, the little we have had, has done nothing to soften the concrete that someone appears to have laid in my horses' fields! Our grass is so shrivelled and brown we are having to haylage our fields already.

We went to Wilts last week and were absolutely amazed by the sight of green grass and talk of the ground being soft!!!
 
Totally unsurprised by the dryness of the ground given the weather. Also not surprised to hear that a 'respected' BE TD was part of the team. Given the above I am still very surprised that no one on the organising team thought it necessary to try and improve the ground conditions. Baffled!!
 
Yes the ground was hard but they had tried. The ground had all been aerated, road crossings had had sanded. Yes they did water the CIC** course the day before, morning of the event, but I recon previous work/ watering had been done to the other tracks as there were far less cracks in the ground where the course ran compared to other areas. The SJ arena I found rode well, they'd not put it up to height IMO, and it looked rough mainly due to them trying to rough up the surface to make it less hard. IMO a lot of horses were finishing the XC very tired, lack of fitness being the problem, more than ground conditions. I chose to run at Smiths Lawn Tuesday then at Aston in the 3 day, I'd choose the ground at Aston any day, evenly firm against fetlock deep sand/ mulch, hardcore road and bog at the end all on one track (oh yes - not to forget the £15 start fee and rock hard dressage and SJ)!

I personally really appreciate the effort put in by Aston Le Walls and the BRC team.
 
Two things from me - the first a question;

I know it was run at ALW but it wasn't run BY the ALW team (it was a BRC event was it not?) - was the course prepared as per instructions from BRC (ie did they have to pay more for more work) or was it the ALW team who was totally responsible for the ground?

The second - a point about the number of horses spun. Yes, I agree that 6 is a lot - many more than you would anticipate at an international event but we need to remember that we're talking about RC riders who do not have the same experience of fittening, care of the horse at a multi-day long format event, and when it's not sensible to present the horse for the trot-up (wanting to finish, not let team mates down, etc, etc).
 
Casper_cb said:
Yes the ground was hard but they had tried. The ground had all been aerated, road crossings had had sanded. Yes they did water the CIC** course the day before, morning of the event, but I recon previous work/ watering had been done to the other tracks as there were far less cracks in the ground where the course ran compared to other areas. The SJ arena I found rode well, they'd not put it up to height IMO, and it looked rough mainly due to them trying to rough up the surface to make it less hard. IMO a lot of horses were finishing the XC very tired, lack of fitness being the problem, more than ground conditions. I chose to run at Smiths Lawn Tuesday then at Aston in the 3 day, I'd choose the ground at Aston any day, evenly firm against fetlock deep sand/ mulch, hardcore road and bog at the end all on one track (oh yes - not to forget the £15 start fee and rock hard dressage and SJ)!

I personally really appreciate the effort put in by Aston Le Walls and the BRC team.
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Thank you. A huge amount of effort went in to preparing ALL the XC tracks at ALW.
 
I was at ALW this weekend "grooming" for two Senior Intermediates. We had no complaints about the going at all. We only live 35 miles away, and the summer has been extremely dry - but ALW always try their best to get the ground right. I think people ought to be congratulating BRC and the whole team for putting on a great event, not winging about the gorund!
 
meardsall_millie said:
Two things from me - the first a question;

I know it was run at ALW but it wasn't run BY the ALW team (it was a BRC event was it not?) - was the course prepared as per instructions from BRC (ie did they have to pay more for more work) or was it the ALW team who was totally responsible for the ground?
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The event was run by BRC. the preparation was down to the team at ALW, & no there were not any cost implications.

The second - a point about the number of horses spun. Yes, I agree that 6 is a lot - many more than you would anticipate at an international event but we need to remember that we're talking about RC riders who do not have the same experience of fittening, care of the horse at a multi-day long format event, and when it's not sensible to present the horse for the trot-up (wanting to finish, not let team mates down, etc, etc).
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Some very good points in the above paragraph.
 
Zebedee said:
The event was run by BRC. the preparation was down to the team at ALW, & no there were not any cost implications.
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Thanks for clarifying Zebedee.

I have to say that whenever I've been to ALW (at whatever level) the ground prep has always been second to none. I was there the weekend before last (when the Advanced ran) and the going was super.
 
meardsall_millie said:
Thanks for clarifying Zebedee.

I have to say that whenever I've been to ALW (at whatever level) the ground prep has always been second to none. I was there the weekend before last (when the Advanced ran) and the going was super.
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Exactly. ALW have a grand reputation for course preparation which they are not going to risk by cutting corners, regardless of the level of event running there.
 
supagran said:
I was at ALW this weekend "grooming" for two Senior Intermediates. We had no complaints about the going at all. We only live 35 miles away, and the summer has been extremely dry - but ALW always try their best to get the ground right. I think people ought to be congratulating BRC and the whole team for putting on a great event, not winging about the gorund!
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Very glad you found things ok, & I hope you enjoyed the event :)
 
I took a team of juniors for the Friday, and we were all very hapy with the XC ground conditions. The SJ arena appeared a little cut up where it had been prepared, but all my girls said it rode well.
I think ALW did a good job. We all really enjoyed the Champs, once again. :)
My main gripe is that FOTH & then HT Champs run at the same venue. It would be nice to have a different venue!
 
i ran in the Novice yesterday and today. My initial impressions on walking the course were that it was on the firm side of wonderful but not sure you can do too much without rain. We did have to ask for sand on the road crossings at the evening briefing last night and there still wasn't any between fence 9 and 10 when I ran but the other crossings had been done. I thought the SJing was fine as it had been broken up well enough to give it a bit of give. The dressage warmup was rock hard and the roads and tracks were pretty firm considering had to do them with jump studs in but horse finished all 4 phases full of running and walked off the trailer this evening after 2.5hr journey bright as a button so am happy with how he coped. A bit more watering/some sand on some landings would have been appreciated but I get the feeling it probably wont get done for the BE next weekend either - guess there's only so much time can go into a course.

All in all I had a great weekend, only marred by my naughty orange one napping back to the roads and tracks before fence 7 and having a stupid run out that cost us 2nd place and instead gave us 26th. Thanks to all the BRC team for a great wkend and I just hope I manage to qualify again next yr so we can do the long format again as it was a great extra challenge to a normal event.
 
I do think the event ran excellently and although hoping to go next year I hope it's not going to clash with the olympics!

BRC disbursing well and I was impressed some BE events could learn from them! I agree I watched a lot if tired horses finish wich is always a shame but I am sure not al riders really know what to expect there first 3de with thelong format is an eye opener for fitness.
 
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