For Immediate release:
I wanted to personally send out a note to the Equine Community about the scheduled 2019 Royal West to be held in October.
As all of you know, Royal West is a tournament created by the team here at Rocky Mountain Show Jumping that made its debut in October of 2014 at the newly constructed building down at Calgary’s, Stampede Park. It was created for two purposes. Firstly, to allow the opportunity to have another major indoor tournament on the Canadian Show Jumping tour, and secondly, to give our team some experience at hosting a major International Show Jumping tournament at an indoor city venue. We as a team have aspirations at some point in the future to apply to bring the World Cup Finals to Canada and wanted to gain experience in putting together a major event in a short time span. Royal West helped us achieve this goal, and we are 100% confident that we could pull of the task if and when we make and are successful with a bid to host the finals.
We announced Royal West back in 2013, and told folks that we wanted to make it an annual tournament. We promised to host the event for 3 – 5 years for sure before we made any more decisions into the future.
We have a great team here at RMSJ, but it is a small team, and Royal West is a huge annual commitment. For the last five year upon conclusion of our August tournaments, we dedicate 2 solid months to its success.
- 800 tons of sand is mixed with 57,000 pounds of material to create the perfect footing. This footing is handled 3 times over the course of the 2 months, involving 38 truck and quads, 3 skid steers, two tractors, and 5 dump trucks.
- Annual expenditures to host Royal West top $1,100,000.
- 45-60 staff members in all are needed to host the event.
- 5am – 11pm are the hours worked during the 12 days in total of the actual event.
- Jump Material, Hay, and Office equipment etc. is all shipped from the farm to the city.
When I even read all of the above, it’s no wonder why I want to have a break.
Having noted the above, I wanted to tell everyone straight from the horse’s mouth, to coin a phrase that we are going to take a siesta with Royal West. We have had such incredible support for the event in the past five years, especially for our FEI divisions. We consistently had over 30 riders compete in almost all of the ranking classes, which speak volumes to the success of the event.
Most of you know that my father’s health was deteriorating rapidly when we announced Royal West, and one month prior to the 2015 event, he passed away. I’ve never really had the opportunity to sit back personally and reflect upon what he has done to help me to be able to contribute to the growth of the equine industry in Canada. I want to take that time, and am going to do it this fall.
Because I am not the person to sit and do nothing, we are going to also take that time, money, and effort, to keep on with the development of the RMSJ facility. All of you, who are reading this and have been to our facility recently, will see how we have once again ramped up some projects. This time however, they are not major construction projects, but finishing touches, that are going to help make this venue that much better into the future, and a place for competitors to call their own.
I wanted to get this note out a few months prior to the scheduled event so that if it was on your calendar this year, you would have time to make alternative plans.
Have no fear folks, Royal West will return in the future. I will be announcing something significant in the coming year that will make the all of this really clear, but for now folks, I just feel like a break.
Thank you for your understanding with my decision this year.
Sincerely yours,
John C. Anderson
President
Rocky Mountain Show Jumping
