Today’s announcement of the UK Sport funding for the four-year Tokyo cycle sees equestrian sport awarded a total investment (WCP + APA) of up to £19,635,180, representing up to £15,361,769 for Olympic sport and up to £4,273,411 for Paralympic sport. Equestrianism is one of 31 sports awarded funding for 2017-2021.
The award, in particular, endorses the success of our world-leading Paralympic team, with its unbeaten track record and continued success on the world stage.
Clare Salmon, Chief Executive of the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) says; “UK Sport’s confidence in the BEF’s Tokyo strategy is recognition of both the World Class Programme’s success in the last cycle and the ambitious strategic change we are putting in place to build-on a winning culture across all the disciplines.
“UK Sport’s continued support for equestrianism – through funding from the National Lottery and Exchequer – is an endorsement of the achievements on the world stage of our athletes, horses, support teams, owners and member bodies. Over the last six weeks, we have taken real strides to demonstrate our commitment to a step change. We are conscious that the performance bar is going up all the time and equestrian sport cannot be complacent. So in that competitive context and a challenging funding landscape, we are delighted to see such positive recognition of our sport continue.
“With news of our award, our attention now turns to consolidating our strategy. We also recognise that we have to create a sustainable funding stream to complement UK Sport’s grant and have irresistible opportunities for sponsors to be part of equestrian sport’s ambitions. The World Championships in 2018 represents the first milestone as we build towards Tokyo, and the development of a more tailored coaching programme, with greater emphasis on sports science, will underpin our preparations and enable us to focus on maintaining our winning edge.
“This is an exciting time for our sport, with our recent announcement of a new direction for coaching in eventing with the appointments of Chris Bartle and Richard Waygood; and the recruitment process now underway for a new Performance Director for the World Class Programme. To further build our performance management team, we will soon be recruiting for the pivotal new role of Head of Performance Support, jointly funded by the EIS, to specifically enhance our work around performance sports science.”
Other roles soon to be advertised include a Head of Pathways, along with Performance Managers for Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage. Later today, we will announce the 2016-2018 intake to our World Class Podium Potential squad.
