London (GBR), 1st February 2019 - The Event Rider Masters (ERM) has today confirmed its 2019 Calendar. Consisting of six legs, including two brand new European locations, this year is set to continue the impressive international expansion of the world's top Eventing series with new legs in France and Ireland.
Launched in 2016, ERM condenses the traditional equestrian three-day event into two days. Including all three disciplines - Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross Country, each phase of every world-class competitor is live streamed and included in a post produced television highlights show which airs in 101 countries worldwide.
ERM is the most valuable Series in the sport of Eventing. It provides the world’s most successful Event Riders with an international stage on which to compete for an unprecedented total prize-money fund of £350,000. The prize pot for the UK leg is £50,000 while each European leg offers €57,000. The riders compete for the much-coveted ERM Series Championship Title and an additional £50,000 series prize fund shared by the top three riders at the end of the season.
Reigning ERM Champion, Australia's Chris Burton will be seeking to defend the title he won in 2018, edging out Great Britain's Laura Collett and New Zealand's Tim Price.
The 2019 Event Rider Masters Calendar is confirmed as:
- Leg 1 - The Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials GBR 11th – 12th May
- Leg 2 - Internationales Wiesbadener Pfingstturnier GER 7th – 8th June
- Leg 3 - Concours Complet D’Arville BEL 22nd – 23rd June
- Leg 4 - Les Haras de Jardy Eventing Show FRA 13th – 14th July
- Leg 5 - Millstreet International Horse Trials IRL 24th – 25th August
- Leg 6 The Finale - Concours Complet International Lignières en Berry FRA 5th – 6th October
Providing spectacular settings for each leg, the six ERM venues located in Belgium, England, France, Germany & Ireland are renowned for hosting some of the most prestigious events in the sport.
Jim O’Toole, CEO of Event Rider Masters commented;
“This new six month calendar provides a significant moment in the development of our series as we add two legs and in the case of Ireland, a brand new market. With events in five broadcast markets across Europe, we see our international expansion as fundamental to the continued growth of our series, both as an elite global sporting competition and as a media broadcast platform. 2018 saw dramatic growth in the value we created for our partners and venues with 2.4 million audited television viewers and a digital community in excess of 1.3 million fans engaging with the series across multiple digital platforms. We anticipate further growth in 2019 as our world class riders compete for the unprecedented prize fund and ERM Podium glory."
ERM's global television output including livestreaming, digital content and 8 television highlights shows will continue to be produced by Red Handed TV and distributed worldwide through over 30 broadcast partners by LCTV.
EVENT RIDER MASTERS 2019 QUICK FACTS
- FEI approved CCI4*S competition series
- Every minute of every ERM competition live streamed online, TV Highlights shows produced from every ERM leg – broadcast globally
- 2019 - six leg series, season championship points awarded at each leg. Final championship result taken from top 5 out of 6 legs of riders’ results.
- 2018 ERM Season Championship:
- 1. ERM Champion Christopher Burton (AUS)
- 2. Runner up Laura Collett (GBR)
- 3. Tim Price (NZL)
- Up to 30 riders compete in each leg. Eligible competitors accepted into each leg are announced on ERM Social Media platforms in “The ERM Cut”. Riders are selected based on their FEI World Rider Ranking at the time of entry to each leg.
- Event Rider Masters has innovated the live online broadcast of the dressage starting order draw, in line with the unique seeding of the ERM Dressage phase according to the competitors’ horse's average Dressage score.
- Riders perform their Dressage routines to their own choice of music to enhance the spectator experience. Live movement by movement Dressage scoring is available for spectators both on-line and on site.
- SAP provide a Spectator Judging App for the Dressage phase to allow spectators to act as a dressage judge and compare their virtually awarded scores to that of the official Dressage judges.
- The Show Jumping is run in reverse order of merit from the Dressage results.
- The top 20 riders after the first two phases of Dressage and Show Jumping, start the Cross Country in reverse order of merit – ensuring that the tension builds till the very last rider is on course.
- SAP Sports Technology provides live virtual tracking of riders on the Cross Country course, including speed, position and time on course.
- Unique rolling ERM Podium at the Cross Country finish, with live big screen TV and ERM Fan Zone creating an exciting atmosphere that builds towards the final result of each leg.