Future of Australian International 3 Day Event post Covid-19 ‘unknown’
The popular Australian International 3 Day Event, which has been cancelled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, might not return in 2021, its chairman has confirmed.
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The future of the Australian International 3 Day Event – that has been cancelled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic – remains uncertain.
Organisers of the State Government-sponsored equestrian event, which has been held in the Adelaide parklands each November since 1997, have confirmed there is no funding guaranteed for the competition beyond this year.
Owned, managed and marketed by Adelaide Horse Trials Management Inc, the event is the only five-star horse trials held in the southern hemisphere and is regarded as an unofficial Olympic qualifier for Australian riders.
Board chair Greg Rolton confirmed this week that the future of the competition, which attracted about 25,000 spectators last year, was “unknown”.
“We’ve put off conversations with the government about the future because they have other priorities for now,” Mr Rolton said.
“We’ve had great support from sponsors over the years but this is an expensive event to run in the city.”
Mr Rolton, husband of the late Gill Rolton, the dual Olympic equestrian gold medallist and a founder of the horse trials, referred The Advertiser to the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) for questions regarding government sponsorship.
He said the international situation with coronavirus had led to the “difficult decision” to cancel the 2020 event.
“Unfortunately, with closed international borders there were just too many variables to see us hold the 3-day this year at the five-star level we’ve established,” Mr Rolton said.
“Many of our judges are based overseas and we have competitors from New Zealand.”
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A SATC spokeswoman said like all government sponsorship contracts, they were
“commercial in confidence”.
Events SA executive director Hitaf Rasheed said the SATC had been a “proud supporter” of the Australian International 3 Day Event since its inception.
“It is the sad, yet understandable, reality of the current times that the event had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 in 2020,” Ms Rasheed said.
“The SATC is in ongoing discussions with organisers regarding future events.”