RADNOR GOES SHORT FORMAT FOR 2006

Welcome to the 32nd year of Radnor Three-Day!  What, you may ask is “short format”?  Short format refers to a new configuration of eventing competition in which the Cross-Country Day consists of only Phase D, Cross-Country Jumping.  In a long format event, this day still includes Phases A, B, and C, Roads and Tracks and Steeplechase.

The short format was developed in response to a concern by the International Olympic Committee that horse sports in the Olympics were too expensive.  If you don’t need the additional land to hold Phases A, B, and C, or the equipment or staff involved, then the cost declines.  Once this format was adopted for the Olympics, other international events followed suit.

Radnor is the perfect venue for a short format event, which is now preferred at the upper levels.  We have a large beautiful, rolling area within view of our Country Fair that was previously utilized for the steeplechase. 

Like a sculptor who can see the possibilities imbedded in a hunk of marble, Tremaine Cooper studied the land from not only the competitor’s view but also that of the spectator.  Tremaine, for those of you who do not know him, is one of the world’s up-and-coming course designers who lives and breathes the sport and possesses an ethereal, almost magical ability and imagination to see what others can not.  We are fortunate to have him return for the second year as Radnor’s designer and guide us through this transition.

Tremaine has plied his talent vis a vis the Radnor grounds and the result is “Wow”!  That was the predominant response of our committee at the new course’s unveiling.  If you are a competitor, you will be delighted at the freshness of the approach and the challenges you will face, and the course’s completion will leave you on a high most satisfactorily expressed at our Competitors Party later Saturday night.

If you are a spectator, you will have the most wonderful opportunity to see much of the effort of horse and rider in meeting this challenge from select hillsides on our beautiful grounds.  While enjoying lunch in the Country Fair or the VIP Tent (I strongly suggest this), you will see the entirety of the new half of the course, and have a moment between horses to dash in the Shops Tent and get that nifty item you spied on your way in.  Wow.

 Parents can keep an eye on the youngsters being entertained in the Kidz Corral and not miss a minute of the competitors’ efforts.  Pack a picnic lunch and take it out on course – it won’t be far from the Fair – and be amazed at all you can see.  Engage a Hospitality Tent on course and entertain your clientele with something they have never seen before, something that will make them want to come and leave saying, “Wow”.

Am I excited about our course?  You bet!  It’s going to be wonderful for everyone attending and working at Radnor Three-Day in 2006.  My sincere thanks to Tremaine Cooper for its conception, and course builders Morgan Rowsell and Todd Richardson for bringing it to life (girls, come see these guys, but sorry, both married!).  See you all in October!!

Lisa Demars
Competition Team Leader