EVENT OF THE YEAR

2021 CAMPERDOWN
HORSE TRIALS

EVENT SPONSOR: Northern Horse park

ABOUT THE EVENT

Camperdown/Lakes & Craters Horse Trials Committee has been running for more than 30 years. The HTs are steeped in history and have been used as qualifying events for many Olympians, including the most significant equestrian Olympic family the Roycrofts. For a long time the club ran two international events including one of only two 3DE in Victoria.

The current committee is a truly fantastic small group of people who have been involved for many years and have seen the sport grow and change in many different ways. Recently they took the bold move of going fully digital and were the first Victorian horse trials to do so – a very exciting time thanks to COVID.

This last couple of years have been very challenging but despite this the committee has adapted and changed to whatever is needed to be able to give riders the chance to compete and get back to what they love doing.

Camperdown Horse Trials Committee ran Northern Horse Park Lakes and Craters International Horse Trials event on the 11-12th of December 2020 after having to cancel the April event 1 week out due to COVID which was devastating for all involved. The Lakes and Craters HT was the first HT event held in Victoria after a horrendous year of COVID. It was supported by a Dressage fundraiser run earlier to provide financial support for the main event, and also to check out the new total electronic scoring system that was needing to be used for the main event.

Many adaptations to normal processes had to be put in place due to the Government restrictions. The electronic scoring system allowed Cross Country judges to use their phones or ipads to do scoring and they system allowed for updates to volunteers. Briefings were done through a combination of Zoom meetings and briefings in open space.

The event had record numbers of EvA80 and EvA 95 riders so classes were run as ODEs on the Saturday and Sunday respectively. The new system allowed for competitors to see their scores straight after completing the phase.
There was continual communication with competitors and volunteers around COVID safety and changes from the day they entered to the last day of competition. All checking in was done via Nominate’s QR code and every competitor had to print their own back numbers.

A small but very dedicated committee ran a very successful competition under the rigid guidelines set down by the Victorian Government – a great achievement under times of uncertainty.