The Event Rider Master Series (ERM) has announced its dates for 2020 – adding a second UK venue to the calendar.
The new addition, Burnham Market International, Norfolk, will be the opening leg (10-11 April) of the series, with Chatsworth International Horse Trials, Derbyshire, to follow on 10-11 May. The addition of Burnham Market follows the loss of Barbury Horse Trials and Blair Castle Horse Trials in 2019.
Legs three and four are Belgium’s Concours Complet D’Arville (27-28 June) and France’s Haras De Jardy Eventing Show (13-14 July). Ireland’s Millstreet International Horse Trials, Cork, returns for its second year providing the fifth leg, while France hosts the final leg, Concours Complet International Lignieres en Berry (10-11 October).
A spokesman for ERM said the series, won by Australian Chris Burton for the past two consecutive years, condenses traditional Olympic equestrian three-day eventing into two days of competition with a shortened cross-country course.
“ERM is the most valuable series in eventing. It provides the world’s most successful event riders with an international stage on which to compete for an unprecedented total prize-fund of £350,000,” he said.
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“The prize pot for the UK leg is £50,000 while each European leg offers €57,000. The riders compete for the much-conveted championship title and an additional £50,000 prize fund shared by the top three riders at the end of the season.”
The spokesman added broadcasting of the series will be freely available to fans globally online.
“Every second of each phase, of every competitor, will be professionally live streamed by ERM’s TV production partner, Red Handed TV. A total of eight TV highlight programmes are also produced and these shows are distributed by ERM’s TV distribution partner, Sunset+Vine, to an ever-increasing list of broadcast partners globally,” he said.
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