The Bermuda Equestrian Federation will be hosting Categories A and B of the FEI/AON World Jumping Challenge at the National Equestrian Centre, Vesey Street, Devonshire this Saturday and Sunday. The action starts at 9 a.m. each day.

The World Jumping Challenge was created in 1979 to provide less experienced riders with an opportunity to compete on an international level without having to leave their own countries.

Nations involved in this programme are those who do not traditionally take part in international competitions.

This form of competition also contributes to the development of jumping — one of the Olympic and most popular equestrian disciplines world-wide. Many riders who have participated in the FEI World Jumping Challenge successfully competed or still compete at elite level.

Internationally the competition is divided into ten Groups (Bermuda will be part of Group 10, along with Barbados, the Caymans, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica).

There are two categories; A and B representing the jumping heights; A being 1.20m courses (3’11”) and B being 1.05m courses (3’5”).

Bermuda took the top two places in Group 10 in 2002, with Catrina Adcock and Philip Correia placing first and second. In 2004, category A had 489 competitors with our Patrick Nisbett coming second in Group 10 and he competed in the final in Germany in May 2005 and came second in that competition.

Nesbitt will be competing in the show jumping at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro in July along with fellow Bermudian rider Jillian Terceira. In 2006 there were 54 countries competing with 391 competitors in Category A (Bermudian Kelby Lusher on Miakoda placed 29th) and 278 competitors in Category B with Catrina Sims on Cinderella placing 85th.

Paul Pereech, FEI international judge, is the organiser of this year’s competition.

This year’s courses have been designed by FEI international course designer Stefan Wirth of Germany with Steve Gibbons and Ian Truran, our FEI international candidate course designers accepting the responsibility of ensuring that the courses are built to the required specifications.

Spectators are welcome and admission is free.

[bul] Thanks to all the volunteers involved, the BEF 30th Anniversary show was a great success. Many people helped with the celebration of a successful first 30 years of the BEF, which was also a fund-raiser for the BEF. As a reminder the BEF was initially formed 30 years ago in order for its riders to compete at international level. The profits are expected to go towards the 2007 PanAmerican Games effort.