Entries are now open for the first of four BE Area Festivals taking place this year, Firle Place Area Festival in Sussex that runs over the weekend of 14-15 May.

Area Festivals are an exciting celebration of grassroots eventing that provide not only the opportunity to qualify for the prestigious NAF Five Star BE80 Championship at Bramham and the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championships at Badminton if you are following the national qualifier route, but also the chance to be crowned as the Firle Place BE80, BE90 and BE100 Area Champion or Open Champion.

Members who have a qualifying ticket for the National Qualifiers can choose to use it for the National Qualifier or the Open Area Championship, giving them the chance to plan their season to suit their own goal. So, whether you wish to be an Area Festival Champion or secure your place at next year’s Championships, the Area Festivals are an event that should definitely be in your diary.

There are four Area Festivals through the season all offering their own Area Championships and National Qualifiers. Starting at Firle, the Festival makes it way to Glamis Castle in Scotland between 30-31 July, Frickley Park in Yorkshire between 19 -20 August and Chillington Hall, Staffordshire between 10-11 September.

Have I qualified?

If you competed in a BE80, BE90, BE100 or a BE90Open or BE100Open class from May 2021 you may have qualified to compete at an Area Festival. There is still a chance to qualify for this year’s Area Festivals as qualifications close on 2 May 2022.

Use our eligibility checker to check whether you have achieved a qualifying ticket to the Area Festivals.

For full details on qualification and eligibility for the Area Festivals, please see Annex 6 of the BE Rules and Members’ Handbook here and also the BE Area Festivals page here.

Thanks to our sponsors

British Eventing would like to thank NAF for their generous sponsorship of the NAF Five Star BE80 National Championship series which culminates at Bramham and Voltaire Design of the Grassroots 90 & 100 Championships at Badminton. Thanks are also extended to the Event Horse Owners Association, Bates Saddles, HorseQuest and Bettalife for their financial support into the British Eventing Partnership cooperative which has been created to assist with investment into the sport.