28/ JULY 2023 THE RIDER


Support The Canadian Dressage Team Today To Help Get Them To Santiago And Beyond!


Equestrian Canada (EC) Dres- sage volunteer hopes to inspire the community to help send a


Canadian team to the 2023 Pan American Games and support them on the way to Paris 2024.


Ottawa, ON, July 6, 2023 – Let’s send a Dressage team to Santi- ago! The EC High Performance Advisory Group (HPAG), Dres- sage, is thrilled to announce a fundraising campaign that aims to get a team to the Pan American Games this October. In addition to $25,000 already committed from several dedicated donors, Dressage Committee


chair


Wendy Christoff’s Family Foun- dation has committed a matching donation of $20,000 for new do- nations raised towards the urgent appeal of $60,000 needed to get to Santiago. When it became known to


the Dressage Committee and the HPAG that funds were needed, they immediately stepped into ac- tion. Due to their unwavering dedication to dressage in Canada, as well as an understanding of the financial constraints facing sport in our country, they began seek- ing support. Now, they’re asking the community to join their cause.


“I want to see the Canadian


team at international competi- tions, and I know others do too,” Christoff said. “As a group of dedicated volunteers, we believe in our athletes and our program. I want to encourage everyone who can to join me with match- ing dollars to boost the cam- paign,” she continued. “To send


Every Breath Counts


our athletes to the Pan American Games in Chile, we need to raise sixty thousand dollars. If our community can match the twenty, we’ll be there!” Although EC spends 34%


of its annual budget on high-per- formance programs and athlete support, there simply is not enough funding to cover all ath- lete and horse costs to campaign at the international level, such as horse transport and travel. EC’s total Dressage budget for the Pan Am Games is $332,500 of which $272,500 is funded. Without closing this current funding gap, Canada will be unable to send a full team to the Games. The Pan Ams are important as they also provide an opportunity for Canada to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Pan American Games


are a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thou- sands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held among ath- letes from nations of the Ameri- cas, every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. Equestrian has been part of


the Pan American Games since 1951, and Canadian dressage has been on the podium every year dating back to 1987, including most recently, a team silver (Brit- tany Fraser, Chris von Martels, Belinda Trussell and Megan Lane) medal on home soil in 2015 in Toronto, ON, and team gold (Jill Irving, Tina Irwin, Lindsay Kellock and Naïma


Moreira-Laliberté) in 2019 in Lima, Peru. Donations up to the


$60,000 initial goal will go to- wards sending a Canadian dres- sage team to Santiago, Chile from Oct. 20 – Nov. 5. Any addi- tional funds raised over and above that goal will be put to- wards the team’s Olympic pur- suits for Paris 2024. “We are so thankful to the


HPAG and our Dressage Com- mittee for stepping up to meet this challenge and we believe the community will join them,” said Christine Peters, Senior Manager, Dressage Olympic/ Paralympic Program. “We are grateful for Wendy’s leadership, for the gen- erosity of the donors who’ve al- ready come forward and for those who are considering donating to the campaign. With increasing fi- nancial pressures, sadly it means there remains a funding shortfall across all national sports where everyone is having to do more with less due to economic and en- vironmental factors out of their control.” “The need for additional


funding is critical for the future success of Canadian Dressage athletes and the team,” said Christoff. “We appreciate every- one’s support and active engage- ment in this essential fundraising initiative.” There are many ways to do-


nate including online, in person or contacting Christine Peters di- rectly at cpeters@equestrian.ca . Secure donations can be made through the website. To donate, visit www.equestrian.ca/donate


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