The gang's all here! Nicole Brown is joined this week by USEA CEO Rob Burk, USEA President Max Corcoran, and Diarm Byrne of EquiRatings to take a look at some of the upcoming highlights for 2021 and make some predictions about exciting things we might see this year.
- New in 2021 is the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL), which already has over 65 registered teams and nearly 20 team challenges on the calendar for the coming year. If you are a Junior Member of the USEA in 7th through 12th grade interested in competing in the IEL this year, check out more details about the program on the USEA website!
- Not eligible for the IEL but still want to set a fun goal for 2021? Why not aim for the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds (AEC)? Taking place August 31-September 5 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, the 2021 USEA AEC provides an opportunity for the top riders in the country at each level to compete against each other for the national championship titles. Those who were qualified to compete in the 2020 AEC will be able to qualify for the 2021 AEC with a single MER within 4 months of the competition. Those that still need to qualify for the 2021 AEC should check out the qualification guidelines here.
- Byrne chimes in to speak about how the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has not disappeared with the start of the new year. While an exciting year lies ahead, EquiRatings is focusing on remaining flexible and not setting big, concrete goals. EquiRatings will still continue to bring exciting new challenges to Eventing Manager as well as fun event preview and review episodes to the Eventing Podcast.
- Burk shares that we are just $12,000 away from activating the final matching donation to the Frangible Technology Fund that will put fundraising at over $500,000 for this important safety initiative.
- #TeamTalk episodes will be back in 2021 as we're on the road to Tokyo with USEF Eventing High Performance Director Erik Duvander and USEF Managing Director for Eventing Jenni Autry. If you have questions you'd like to have asked on an upcoming #TeamTalk episode, email them to podcast@useventing.com.
- To close out this week's episode, the team takes turns making predictions about what they think might be in store for 2021. Byrne leads off with a prediction for who will emerge as the winner at the in the 2021 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships, followed by Brown with her prediction for who will be the highest-placed U.S. combination at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo (and a bonus prediction about the podium at the inaugural Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill in the fall!) Burk makes a safety-related prediction, and Corcoran closes out with a prediction about the 2021 USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds. You'll have to listen in to hear their predictions!
- What are your predictions for 2021? Email your predictions to podcast@useventing.com for the chance to be mentioned on our next episode of the USEA Podcast!
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