Subject to government guidance we will continue to look at alternatives permitted under a tier system and will resume full competitive sport as soon as regulation permits us to do so. 

Jude Matthews, BE CEO, commented, “We understand that our members cannot wait to get out eventing, and we are confident that with our protocols in place we will be able to resume sport quickly once government guidance allows us to. When sport resumed in July 2020, we demonstrated that with the support of our hard-working organisers and our army of able volunteers, high-quality events could be prepared quickly. We were able to shorten the timescale for taking entries for events and react to demand by adding extra days of competition where required.  Work will continue to ensure we offer members the full calendar of competition they require as we restart, and throughout the season.

“We are in continual conversation with those early season event Organisers and are discussing potential alternative formats such as Training Competitions to ease members’ transition into the full season, subject to the restrictions in place at that time. In addition, we are reviewing the qualification criteria and timescales for our Championships to help ensure that members are able to gain their qualifications.”

Rachael Faulkner, Chair of the BEOA, added; “We fully support the decision not to start the season until the latter part of March. With current restrictions in place and deadlines to book contractors, pay deposits and secure volunteers fast approaching, we agree that pushing back the start of the season is a sensible choice. We all look forward to welcoming the eventing community to our events as soon as possible.”

As we move closer to a season restart, we continue to work with our Organisers to ensure there are sufficient events for members and this may include rescheduling some of the lost early season events later in the season. We will keep members up to date with any changes to the 2021 fixtures calendar.