Avenches this week: a CSIO4* Nations Cup for designers
The Longines EEF Series Final is at the National Equestrian Institute of Avenches from 3 to 6 September. It is CSIO4*. British Showjumping has the Grand Prix on Friday 4 September and the Nations Cup on Sunday 6 September.
BS named Team Audevard on 27 August: Oliver Fletcher with Cassanova One BVL Z, Jodie Hall McAteer with La Gupardie, Max Routledge with Me The Rebel R.T, Holly Smith with Fruselli, and Jamie Wingrove with Belvedere. Di Lampard is chef d’équipe.
World of Showjumping put newly crowned World Champion Steve Guerdat on the Swiss entry list this week, with Martin Fuchs, plus names such as Willem Greve and Katharina Rhomberg.
Ten teams, two identical rounds
Jumping Avenches confirmed the ten nations after the Samorin semi-final: Austria, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Great Britain took fifth in the North-West semi-final at Peelbergen. Germany won Mannheim on a zero score and still missed the final after 21 faults in round one at Samorin.
The EEF calendar ran eight CSIO3 regional legs and two CSIO3 semi-finals. The final is the step up.
Series format: four riders, two rounds over identical courses, Table A against the clock, best three scores counting. If teams are still tied for the lead, one rider per team jumps off.
Last September that jump-off decided it. Switzerland beat France. Gaëtan Joliat and Chelsea Z were more than a second quicker than Sara Brionne.
If you only take one thing for a club team class, take the identical second round. Riders have already seen the questions. You cannot hide a new distance. Time allowed does the sorting if the poles stay up. The same logic sits in our jump-off notes.
The ground in Avenches
Show director Edwin Smits told Jumping Avenches the series exists for coming-up riders and horses. The site is 135 hectares at Les Longs-Prés. They rebuilt the footing with an ebb-and-flow system after the old surface failed in heavy rain. Last year’s final had torrential overnight rain. After a short break and some maintenance they jumped. More than 20,000 people came through the weekend.
The organising team includes Gérald Lachat, named on that page as Switzerland’s leading course designer. IENA keeps the final through 2027.
Aachen closed nine days ago. Guerdat and Dynamix de Belheme took the individual world title there on 23 August. A Nations Cup is a different brief from that championship individual. Four combinations per team, twice, a discard score, then a jump-off short enough to be fair on horses that have already jumped two rounds. Aachen week was about championship questions. This is about a team scoreboard.
Friday Grand Prix, Sunday teams
Watch the Grand Prix on Friday, then the team class on Sunday. British Showjumping pointed to the livestream on FEI.TV, powered by ClipMyHorse.
Count the related distances that stay the same in round two. Note whether the time allowed is doing more work than the height. If it goes to a jump-off, watch how short that track is and who they send.
Then open the designer and put two identical rounds on the same plan, plus a four-fence jump-off. If you are building a county-show team class this month, that is the useful copy, not the five-star names.
