Scotland’s Blair Castle to Host 2015 European Eventing Championships

Scotland will host the eventing European Championships in 2015 staged at Blair Castle after horsesport’s international governing body the FEI awarded the eventing championship to Perthshire venue.

The German venue Aachen, which ran the 2006 World Equestrian Games and has a multidiscipline festival of sport every summer, bid to run a “European Equestrian Games” in 2015 but lost out to Blair Castle.

This will be the first time Blair has hosted a senior championship, although it has run two young rider Europeans in the past six years, in 2007 and 2011. The event director is Alec Lochore, currently the eventing manager for the 2012 London Olympics. 

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, was among those who gave strong backing to Scotland’s bid.

“The 2015 European Eventing Championships is one of the most prestigious international sports events to be staged by the United Kingdom as part of the 2012 major events sports legacy,” he said.

The last senior European Championships in Britain was at Blenheim in 2005.