IJRC News

While the equestrian calendar is crammed with show jumping events around the world, the International

Jumping Riders Club’s (IJRC’s) agenda is packed just as full of commitments and meetings, related with the sport and with its protagonists: horses and athletes.

Ranking System

Among the main issues on the IJRC’s roster is the study of the Ranking System, to guarantee the fairest possible allocation of ranking points. Since the IJRC owns the formula for calculating Jumping Rankings, and the FEI owns all commercial rights, it is up to IJRC to define the characteristics of events at which points can be given out.

Longines Working Ranking Group

Due to the complexity of this topic, the FEI and IJRC have created the Longines Working Ranking Group (LRWG), to help the Ranking System best represent the reality of our sport, with top athletes in the high ranking positions, considering all the variables involved. These include the differing situations in Europe, USA and Latin America, and the incredible number of events, growing exponentially year by year (in the past there were just seven 5* shows per year; now there are more than 100), and the difficulty of top young riders who deserve to compete and to show up their talent, to be entered in the shows, with the result they cannot even enter the ranking. To assist with this, the FEI IT Department is preparing simulations to provide guidance in order to help the LRWG.

Athletes’ representative

Another important topic for the Club is the election of the new jumping athletes’ representative. This position plays a vitally important role in providing a voice to the jumping community within the global decision making process. The athletes’ representative is part of the FEI Jumping Committee, a body put together to discuss everything currently in play in the international jumping world. The position also functions as part of the FEI Athletes Committee, which is formed of representatives across all FEI disciplines.

Candidacies

At the end of September the term of the current FEI athletes’ representative, Rodrigo Pessoa, one of the best international riders in the world, will come to an end, and a new athlete will be elected through an online election, to be held from July 29 to September 23. The representative will be chosen from a group of riders who presented their spontaneous candidacies: Sanjay Bagai (IND); Cian O’Connor (IRL); Nicolas Pizarro Suarez (MEX) and a female candidate suggested by the riders, Lisen Bratt Fredricson from Sweden.

Eligibility criteria

The candidates should fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

Must be at least 18 years of age at the time

of the vote;

Have either competed in one of the last two

senior FEI world championships or Olympic Games or Paralympic Games in the discipline for which they are seeking election;

Have a clean anti-doping record with respect to both the Equine Anti-Doping & Control Medication Rules (EADCMRs) and the Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes (ADRHAs) as of April 2010.

Vital importance

In the future, the IJRC would like to see veteran riders included in the election, since active riders have so many sporting commitments that sometimes they have less time to dedicate to this position. Yet, like all initiatives undertaken by the IJRC, the fulfillment of this role is of vital importance to the entire jumping community.