The 51st edition of CSI Eindhoven will not take place this year. The board has decided not to let the international horse jumping competition, which was planned in the weekend of Ascension (from Thursday May 18 to Sunday May 21) on the Karpendonkse Plas in Eindhoven, take place. Because a festival is planned on the same grounds too shortly before CSI Eindhoven, the board of the equestrian event cannot guarantee good quality of the ground.
In 2022, the CSI management was surprised by the fact that a festival would be held on the same event site shortly before the competition. Nevertheless, due to the extreme drought of the spring of 2022, the CSI Eindhoven, which attracts about 50,000 visitors over four days with free entrance, was then able to go ahead. "If it had rained last year, the grounds would have suffered a lot from the festival making the ground too bad to allow CSI to go on. Then we would have been forced at the time to have to pull the plug on our event at the last minute, with all the financial consequences," CSI Eindhoven board member Leopold van Asten looks back. "The sunny spring saved us last year."
A sequel in 2024?
The CSI board had understood from the municipality of Eindhoven that the festival would not be held again this year right before CSI Eindhoven. Van Asten: "Now that unfortunately that does appear to be the case, we have to act. Therefore, we have unfortunately had to decide not to hold the 51st edition of CSI Eindhoven this year. At this time we have not yet entered into any financial commitments that could cause unpleasant surprises later on."
The board of CSI Eindhoven is in talks with the municipality of Eindhoven about a solution for 2024 and beyond. For the event calendar of 2024, the municipality indicates that it will do its best to stretch the period between another event and CSI Eindhoven so that a good soil quality can indeed be guaranteed.
Source: Eindhoven Business
