Captain Mark Phillips, Chairman of The Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, today announced that Event Director Tim Henson is stepping down from his role of over 20 years. Captain Phillips said; “We would like to thank Tim for his huge contribution and service to The Festival over the years. He helped create The Festival and has been instrumental in raising the standards to deliver the best possible Championships year on year. We are very sad that he is standing down, however, we are excited for the future and Tim will still have an important role in the coming years.”

At the same time, Captain Phillips has announced that Peter Phillips will take over the role of Event Director. He went on; “Peter has been involved with the Championships in many different guises since a very young age and knows the event as well as anyone. Peter and his team at Sports Entertainment Limited (SEL) UK have some great ideas to develop and expand The Festival in the future and I look forward to continue working with him as he takes on this new role.”

Peter Phillips, Managing Director of SEL UK Ltd commented; “Tim has done an unbelievable job with The Festival of British Eventing over the last 20 odd years. His leadership of the team running The Festival has led to the event being one of the best run and attended events on the equestrian calendar. These are big shoes to fill but I am confident that the team at SEL will be able to bring a fresh approach whilst not taking away from the core values that Tim and his team have built up to make The Festival such a great event and a showcase for the sport of eventing.”

Peter goes on; “This is a really exciting opportunity for SEL to take on a well-established event and look to bring in some new ideas from other areas of the sports and entertainment world. We look forward to working closely with all the existing stakeholders of the event as well as with British Eventing to help raise the profile of the National Championships.”

David Holmes, Chief Executive of British Eventing commented; “The Festival of British Eventing consists of our four National Championships; The TopSpec Challenge for The Corinthian Cup (The British Amateur Championship), The Dodson & Horrell British Novice Championship, The Smith & Williamson British Intermediate Championship and The British Open Championship CIC3*, incorporating the Event Rider Masters, where our National Champion is crowned. We thank Tim for his hard work over the years in helping to build The Festival of British Eventing into a major focal point for the sport, we are delighted that Peter and his team will be taking on the reins and we look forward to working closely with them as they develop their plans over the coming years.”

The Festival of British Eventing, presented by the British Equestrian Trade Association, held at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire will take place from 3^rd to 5^th August 2018.