Making sure things will be just perfect . . . Professor Chris Rogers and Dr Kylie Legg from the Massey Equine Research Centre test an arena surface at Manfeild Park.
The 2024 North Island Show Jumping Champs have had a bit of a spruce up and organisers are promising the best indoor footing ever at host venue Manfeild Park.
Spearheading the charge is longtime show organiser, the hugely passionate Kevin Hansen. He’s been behind some of the nation’s biggest shows and never shies away from ensuring no stone is left unturned in the quest for the best show possible.
The North Island Champs will be no different. He’s pulled together a crack team including FEI level 2 course designer and Massey University professor of equine science Chris Rogers, alongside Amy McVerry, Hannah Gudsell, Jill Martin and Stephen Nickalls, among others. It is a coming together of representatives from the Manfeild Park Trust, and Feilding and Central Districts Jumping groups.
“There’s a lot of work gone into the surface of the indoor from Feilding and Manfeild representatives over the winter,” says Kevin. “We all have plenty of reasons to want this champs to be one of the best ever.”
Chris Rogers has 40-odd years’ experience in jumping and is committed to bringing Manfeild Park up to a gold standard.
“Over time there has been compaction of the substrate so we have turned the surface right over and remixed it so we have an even distribution of the material – which is what we all wanted,” says Chris. “All the while we have been refining the way the irrigators are used to get the appropriate moisture level, so now we have a good handle on getting that ideal jumping surface.”
And they’ve gone big to get a good benchmark on what it should be like, working alongside the Racing Surfaces Testing Lab in Kentucky who do all the big ones across the globe.
“We have a mechanical hoof to measure how good our jumping surface is. It’s five horseshoes on a one metre bar and from a calculation level it works really well. From that we can work out the impact of the hoof on the ground and the shear – which is how the hoof slides in the surface. We can modify our management of the arena so we end up with an optimum amount of yield and grip for jumping.”
It’s all part of a long term plan to make Manfeild one of the premier surfaces in the year. “We’ve tapped some of the world’s best experts to do this. We know what we want to achieve and we know we are well on the way now thanks to benchmarks at the likes of Ocala and Wellington in Florida as well as others.”
Better footing for the North Island Champs is just the start. There’s a $31,000 prize pool for showjumping alone with Friday and Saturday nights packed with some of the best competition of the show.
Friday night will feature the Young Rider, the 1.4m and the North Island Speed Champs, with Saturday boasting the North Island titles for the 1.4m, Pony Grand Prix and Premier. Grandstands that can cope with 2000-plus will surround the 80mx40m arena, with room for hospitality and functions above. Competition gets underway on the Thursday afternoon.
As well as the indoor, there are three outdoor showjumping arenas, a show hunter arena and plenty of room for the showing. It is the first time Manfeild has hosted the North Island Champs.”
“We all want this to be a huge success,” says Kevin. “We’ve got room for around 450 horses, with great stabling, and covered and uncovered yards. It’s now up to the riders to support the work and effort that is going into the champs and enter. We’re about to announce our course designer shortly, and if that doesn’t draw the masses to Feilding, nothing will!”
WHAT: North Island Show Jumping Champs at the Feilding IA&P December Show
WHERE: Manfeild Park, Feilding
WHEN: December 5-7, 2024
Diana Dobson – 4 September 2024