United States Eventing Association

Farewell to Radnor

My name is Emily Daily and I recently joined the staff here at the USEA as Communications Assistant, so I'm constantly hearing all sorts of new comings and goings in the event community. Recently we ran a press release, though just about everyone in the eventing world already knew, about the retirement of the Radnor Hunt Three-Day Event. "The board of the Radnor Hunt Three-Day Event voted last night not to hold the Radnor Hunt Three-Day again due to lack of sponsorship and the difficulty in finding sufficient volunteers to put on the event. This is a very sad day for the sport but it is understandable that after more than 30 years of hosting one of the country's best competitions the organizing committee has decided to call it a day." It saddens me to think that one of the most prestigious and long-standing events in our country has to close its doors because of the lack of support and funding. What does that say about us as eventers that we cannot come up with enough volunteers to support this event? Some of us, including me, may not have known it was in trouble and though it's too late to "save Radnor" perhaps if we'd have known ahead of time would we have done something to help. I think we would have. Perhaps I don't know the whole story, but I know I, along with many many other people, have enjoyed the Radnor event and appreciated the hard work of everyone involved to help make it such a memorable event. Any thoughts on perhaps the future of eventing if we cannot come up with volunteers and sponsors? Should Radnor's retirement be a "wake-up call" to the rest of us? ~Emily Daily