Strathallan and Hopetoun 2011/Scottish Fixtures

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kirkton

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Ok, I'm sticking my head above the wall here and will no doubt be branded by BE as a trouble maker!

There are major changes planned in the 2011 BE fixtures list for Scotland.

I have been told by several reliable sources that since Hopetoun Horse Trials will now be under a new organising team and become a two and three star event that it has been allowed to 'cherry pick' a date at will for 2011. The new organisers have chosen to run at the end of July which used to be Strathallan's dates.

As Strathallan have a full diary of BSJA shows, NPS shows as well as estate commitments (lambing, silage etc) they are unable to move dates.

So as it stands Strathallan has no date for 2011. They are the only event in Scotland to run from BE80 to Int Nov, and have the 4 & 5 year old classes.

Basically, the very small handfull of Scottish riders with CIC** and CIC*** horses have been assumed to be more important than the 500+ riders that got to Strathallan.

If you think this is unfair, make your voice heard! If you go to the ERA forum at the link below and add a reply, then Francis says he will fight this cause for us if enough peopel are as unhappy as me.

http://www.eventridersassociationuk.org/forums/index.php?action=vthread&forum=2&topic=71
 
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Noooo! I was looking forward to Strathallan again next year! And Hopetoun for that matter! Grrrr!

*toddles off to make opinion known on ERA*
 
Noooo! Strathallan is a great event at a great location! I am bias as its the only event i have competed at so far!

Considering the lack of scottish events vs english events it seems ridiculous to loss a date due to another venues cherry picking.... and isnt there the scope to run the same star event at scone two weeks after strathallans normal date anyway? would it not make more sense money wise to use the existing two star track at scone? And i think if you looked at the ROI from making hopetoun ** and *** vs Scone you could stick with scone? and that has two dates a year meaning even greater ROI? And I agree with you kirkton... how many scottish riders have horses at this level compared to ones at 80-nov int?! seems like a very political move IMO and not one that has been weighted up fully with regards to ability to break even.

I shall be off to have a rant too!
 
This is terrible news if true, I am another who would be very sad (and angry) to see Strathallan "bullied" out of a date for 2011. They run a very friendly event (and I have nice memories of it being my first ever BE last year) and it certainly is not fair for a new event to come along and steal their date. :(

As Ems says, it's not like our event calendar is full to bursting from March-Oct, so a little bit of common sense and courtesy when trying to arrange dates wouldn't go amiss. The more choice for riders, the better. We don't want to lose any events. :(
 
That is a shame. Hopetoun is one I had pencilled in for 2011 but if they move it to that weekend it will most likely clash with Thornton Watlass which is another lovely little event and a good bit closer for me.

If I were an event organiser who could pick an event date I would avoid July anyway!! Every single event we did in July we got soaked at/ You only have to look at how often our local event Cumwhinton has cancelled to see July does not have the best track record!!
 
Francis Whittington - Chairman of Event Riders (ERA)

I think you over heard myself and Tanya at the score board!!!!
 
Noooooo it must not happen.:(

Strathallan is one of the nicest on the scottish circuit. I could have a whole lot of expletives to go along with this but I shall refrain and go onto ERA instead.

Another case of money winning over majority perhaps??

"Save Strathallan" campaign has been started!!!
 
kirkton said:
Francis Whittington - Chairman of Event Riders (ERA)

I think you over heard myself and Tanya at the score board!!!!
Click to expand...

I did hear peeps talking about it at the scoreboard but didn't realise who was who, too busy putting up flyers! Give me a nudge the next time.

There were also a group talking about it at the water jump, a wee bit more heated than the scoreboard dicussion!
icon7.gif
 
Well I really hope people get behind "Save Strathallan" , I've a lot of happy memories from their event and hope to have many more!
 
I will definitely be getting on my soapbox re this. Just cannot understand how we can lose yet another Scottish fixture. We've lost Gleneagles, and now it seems Strathallan. These events are so central for all Scottish BE-ers, it's crazy, crazy, crazy.

Plus I have fond memories of Strathallan as I had my first ever BE placing there many moons ago...
 
Kirkton....does this mean Hopetoun will become purely a ** and *** event and therefore will no longer cater for the intro to nov classes it has traditionally hosted? or will it now have both/all?

Also, Strathallan hosted Tullibardine BE a few years ago to fill a golf-related gap from Gleneagles in the calendar and indeed there was mutterings more recently about the return of Tullibardine....does it no longer have the flexibility to do that?

Surely the whole calendar is due a total and utter revamp for scotland next year, and that has certainly been the story bouncing around.....surely therefore no event can consider its 'date' fixed? there are a considerable number of clashes that need avoiding next year....so i'd expect alot of events to move forward or backward, and its not as though we didn;t have lots of 'blank' weekends up here......

a by-the-by too, i also heard the future of brechin is in doubt....
 
I was told that Hopetoun have asked to run the smaller classes too. But all the portables are advertised for sale so there will be a huge investment needed by the new organisers to build that range of courses.

I know that Blair is week earlier and that some events have had to try and be flexible to fit in. But what I think is crazy is that Strathallan has been booted out due to Hopetoun 'wanting' to move dates because they have a change of direction and organising team.

The 'average' Scottish rider will not give two hoots that Hopetoun is offering a CIC** and CIC*** but they will care that Strathallan has gone.
 
i've not yet tried eventing - but was wanting to give it a go at a (very :o) low level and was told by my RI that i should do the BE80 at strathallan - was that the only BE80 in scotland? in which case i don't think i'll be trying eventing - i'd def not be happy going in at 90cm :o
 
posie_honey said:
i've not yet tried eventing - but was wanting to give it a go at a (very :o) low level and was told by my RI that i should do the BE80 at strathallan - was that the only BE80 in scotland? in which case i don't think i'll be trying eventing - i'd def not be happy going in at 90cm :o
Click to expand...

It's not the only BE80 in Scotland. There is also Scotsburn and Drumclog. Wee Burgie also ran one this year. So fear not, there would still be other opportunities. However, we don't want to lose Strathallan and any of it's courses/levels!
 
What's to say that the aforementioned BEs will run BE80 classes next year? If the shake-ups are as big as they're talking about then surely we can't take anything for granted?

I've just added my tuppence worth to the ERA site...
 
Come on everyone we can do better than 14 posts on ERA surely? Its our BE our voice does count. If you don't make your feelings clear then you can't moan next year!!

Come on ******SAVE STRATHALLAN******
 
Maybe we could post a link to this on some of the central scotland BE events FB pages and other related FB pages to alter other peeps that might be blissfully unaware as well? incase they arent on the ERA already? Help rally the troops to help ***SAVE STRATHALLAN***
 
I've been trying to add my bit on the ERA forum but do not seem to be able to find where to register so I can use the forum! Definetely being a bit thick so can someone tell me where I need to go.

Although living (just) over the border in England now, I still go to some of the Scottish events and had a great time at Hopetoun this year. Have also been to Strathallan even though it is a bit of a trek - would still like to have the option though. Really hope it is all sorted out as there are few enough events in Scotland. Does sound as though new organisers at Hopetoun are upsetting a few people - didn't they fall out with the previous organisers and that's why all the existing portable jumps, start box, posts and even string (!) are for sale? Worry that their ambitious plans for FEI classes could result in not only Strathallan disappearing, but Hopetoun not happening either.
 
Hi Soupdragon71,

If you go to the ERA Uk home page
http://www.eventridersassociationuk.org/

Then on the left there is a list of options, Home, events , news etc. Then under that and above the login boxes there is a box called "Join Here" the background to the box is a crown of people.
You fill in a short form and that should be it
 
Soupdragon - glad to hear I'm not the only one that took forever to work out how to register on the ERA website. Very badly designed site (sorry, interpretative website work part of my job so maybe overly picky!). They would do themselves a favour to get it sorted - I was at the point of giving up.

Apart from that, I hope more folk can come forward or I will be paying my full membership to BD/BS very shortly instead of renewing my BE.
 
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