Hartpury University and College has stepped in to rescue this year’s British Eventing National Championships.
After the cancellation of this year's Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe, the world-class equestrian centre said it would be happy to host the popular event.
The championships will now run alongside Hartpury's well-established NAF Metazone CCI2*L, NAF Superflex CCI3*L and NAF Magic CCI4*S classes.
The addition of the British Open Championship, British Intermediate Championship, British Novice Championship, British Novice Restricted Novice Championship (Corinthian Cup), and Retrained Racehorse Championship, will mean an extra day of exciting cross country action on Sunday 11 August 2024.
Britain’s national champions will then be crowned after a week-long celebration of the sport of eventing.
Hartpury University and College already has form holding championship level events — in 2022, the venue successfully hosted the FEI Dressage and Eventing Championships for Juniors and Young Riders.
Deputy vice chancellor, Rosie Scott-Ward, said: 'Like many others, we were sad to hear of the loss of Gatcombe’s Festival of British Eventing from the calendar this year, and it’s our privilege to be trusted with delivering these championships in 2024.
'While it’s not easy stepping up at relatively short notice, I’m very proud of our team here at Hartpury who have already got to work to ensure we deliver a superb competition and championship atmosphere for competitors.
'We have exciting plans for the cross country courses and are working with designer Eric Winter and Jump1 to create world-class tracks and exceptional going, both for the championships and also for our prestigious international classes.'
British Eventing CEO, Rosie Williams, praised Hartpury's top-class environment.
She said: 'We are really pleased to be working with the team at Hartpury to host our prestigious national championships. We are all focussed on building this back to a major event for our members of all levels to aspire to, and it is brilliant to have Hartpury on board to help us do that.
'Members attending the championships will have access to top-class facilities across all days of competition, whilst also being able to enjoy the atmosphere that the existing international event brings with it.
'Our national classes are the pinnacle in the calendar for many of our members, and we look forward to being able to watch the titles being contested within a top-class environment.'
The NAF Five Star International Hartpury Horse Trials run from Wednesday 7 to Sunday 11 August 2024.
