MORE JOURNALISTS PAY TRIBUTE TO "FANTASTIC" OLYMPIC FACILITIES

13 March 2008

A third group of visiting international equestrian journalists were extremely impressed by the Olympic equestrian venues and facilities when they were taken to Sha Tin and Beas River on 11 and 12 March.

"All the facilities are fantastic", Lisa Roth, publisher of three British equestrian magazines said during the tour, which took in the core venue and training facilities at Sha Tin, as well as the cross-country venue in Beas River.

An added bonus for the group, which included television and print media from Britain, Canada, Norway and Switzerland, as well as one of the world's top equestrian photographers, Kit Houghton, was an unexpected visit from cross-country course designer Mike Etherington-Smith during the Beas River tour on 12 March.

Etherington-Smith, who had arrived in Hong Kong only that afternoon, came straight out to the cross-country venue and was more than happy to talk to the journalists about the course and the work put in by course builder David Evans and his team.

"One of the biggest hazards is the golf balls", he said, referring to Hong Kong Golf Club members who are still playing regular rounds of golf before the course is closed just before the Olympics. "Dave and the guys have been ducking balls all the time and we had to allow an extra 25% on the project time just for that."

Etherington-Smith was also full of praise for the facilities put in place by The Hong Kong Jockey Club. "The great thing about the Jockey Club is that they have the knowledge and the expertise."

The media group was shown around the Club's Olympic core venue at the Hong Kong Sports Institute by Olympic project business manager John Ridley.They also visited the Olympic stabling complex, where they had to don white coats in accordance with quarantine regulations.

Dr Terence Wan, Head of the Racing Laboratory, gave the group a tour of the lab and explained how samples from Olympic and Paralympic horses would be tested for prohibited substances in record time during the Games. Dr Chris Riggs, Head of Veterinary Clinical Services, showed the journalists around the Club's Equine Hospitaland no-one's appetite seemed to be affected, despite a ringside view of a horse undergoing arthroscopy surgery in the operating theatrebefore a lunch at the Clubhouse hosted by John Ridley.

On the second day of their visit to The Jockey Club's Olympic venues, the journalists visited Tuen Mun Riding School and the Riding for the Disabled facilities. They met up with Hong Kong Paralympic athlete Nelson Yip, who gave a demonstration of the skills that he will display at the Paralympics in September. "Nelson is a great athlete", one of the journalists said over lunch in the Beas River Country Club later in the day.

After a lunch in the new Clubhouse, course builder David Evans demonstrated his skill with a chainsaw, adding some finishing touches to the one of the carved dragon's heads that will feature on the cross-country in August. And the journalists had plenty of questions, both for Evans and for Etherington-Smith when he appeared shortly afterwards during the cross-country tour conducted by Soenke Lauterbach of the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation.

The journalists later enjoyed a night out at the races in Sha Tin, hosted by the Club's Executive Director of Corporate Development Kim Mak. The media group was keen to get some hot racing tips and their wish was granted when the Club's Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges arrived with the Executive Director of Racing William Nader to mark the journalists' race cards.  The group then a chance to get up close and personal to the action when Head of Racing Operations John Ridley took them down to the starting stalls for the big race of the night.

The group was hosted by the Hong Kong SAR Government's Information Services Department, which organised five full days of activities, including talks from the Equestrian Company, Agriculture Fisheries and Food Department on quarantine and the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee President Timothy Fok. "Hong Kong does horses", Mr Fok told the media group.