HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships - less than one week to go

There is less than a week to go to the opening of the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships in Malmö and the showground with its magnificent Cross Country course is all set. Leafy Ribersborg will greet the riders and public, and despite the hot summer the grass on the Cross Country course is a beautiful lush green.

- “We have put in a lot of work to produce good footing for the Cross Country.”, says Lars Christensson, assistant course designer at the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships.-“In July and August when it was really hot, we watered the course every night to keep the footing soft and versatile.

Although the work on the track has come at a cost of several hundreds of thousands Swedish crowns, the organizing committee is more than happy to make the investment.-“It is definitely worth every penny,” says Show Director Viveca Byhr Lindén, “ When you have a championship you have to have the highest standard.All the hard work has paid off and the Cross Country track is now an emerald green carpet running through the Ribersborg area. Just in case there isn't sufficient rain during the next few days, two huge water tanks are standing by for additional watering.

The HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships are the first major Eventing championships to be held in Sweden since the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 1990 in Stockholm. Malmö City, together with the Swedish Equestrian Federation, has used the Ribersborg show ground for Eventing for more than a decade. Last year the FEI European Eventing Championships for Young Riders were organized here, and Malmö City has also hosted the FEI World Cup™ Eventing, qualifiers as well as finals.- “Now we raise the bar once again and it is very exciting,” says Lars Christensson.

The Cross Country course and the warm up area have been well prepared using a scarifier to get sufficient elasticity into the ground.The Ribersborg area has been transformed in to a championship show ground. The Cross Country course is laid out and all of the fences and the public crossings are in place.The course, designed by Rüdiger Schwarz, (GER), will not be revealed until the official course walk next week, and most of the fences will be brand new for the Championships.

Per Magnusson is the designer of the fences as well as being the Sports Director for the Championships. The company, PRO Eventing, is responsible for the actual construction of the fences.- “The course will be new in all respects,” says Per Magnusson,” new outlay and new fences. .

The water complexes are always spectacular on a Cross Country course and, with the Öresund Bridge as the backdrop, the course designer has of course used the shoreline where Ribersborg meets the Öresund to add to the technical difficulty of the course.The Turning Torso building watches over the show grounds and close to this iconic piece of architecture, there is another water complex including boats to jump.

”It’s all in place now and we are all really looking forward to welcoming the riders and the public to the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships in Malmö next week,” says Viveca Byhr Lindén.The Ribersborg area is a public park and recreation area but will be fenced off during the Championships.

ContactLotta Amnestal, Press Officer, +46 709 79 56 35Birgitta Hjertberg, Press Officer, + 46 709 34 14 11