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CHIO
Aachen |
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"These are our
neighbors"
Friday, July 14
Rain is normal for summer in Germany although occasionally you'll have a day or two of sunshine. I bought my rain jacket in Dusseldorf just before my first CHIO Aachen, 1997. It rained at least part of each day and I can attest that my German rain jacket is indeed rain-proof!
This year, it had rained daily for the two weeks prior to the start of CHIO and it continued to rain at least part of each day. Hermann
Duckek (also did the footing for Atlanta Olympics and Rome World
Equestrian Games) built and managed the dressage arena and warmups and there wasn't a puddle to be seen even when it poured down as it did for Michael Klimke's Grand Prix Special. The main arena used for jumping and driving, larger than a couple of football fields, was constructed with rain in mind. Layers of rock starting with about one inch with layers and layers of smaller rock until the final layer is smaller than gravel. Jumping and driving classes were held from early morning to almost midnight each day and the arena grass still held, not a horse slipped on the turf despite the torrential rain. The drainage system passed it's major test. Only the entry path from the jumper warm up to the arena which is not drained showed how bad the footing could have been. There was no visible grass and the sucky mud was fetlock deep.
After another night of pouring down rain, I pulled into parking lot 15 and tried to park in the front row following a 4 wheeler. My Ford just couldn't get enough traction, so I opted for the third row as close to the gravel entrance as possible. The green blazer CHIO volunteers had been joined by a gentleman in a blue blazer and were discussing the condition of the parking lot. I stopped to ask them if where I had parked was acceptable, and the gentleman in the blue blazer assured me it was fine as they were closing the parking lot and I was the last car. Lot 15 is one of the largest and closest lots to CHIO -- a lot most shows would have merely covered with gravel and continued to use. "These are our neighbors," the gentleman explained, "and this is a pasture for our neighbor's dairy cows which he allows us to use during CHIO for a partking lot. If we allow any more cars to park here, we will destroy his pasture. So we will close the lot and shuttle visitors from a paved lot further away."
Later, I spotted the gentleman checking on the press area closed circuit televisions and told Bonnie he was the one who had closed the lot. It was Mr. Frank Kemperman, the show manager who seemed to be everywhere solving problems including saving a cow pasture for "our neighbors".
Riders, trainers, grooms and press are provided a special reiter club area where meals are provided for free by CHIO and it's open for coffee, chocolates, beer - a place to relax all day long. On the last day, a VIP without proper credentials arrived and wanted to conduct an interview and take photos. When the volunteer refused him admission because he did not have credentials, he became incensed and created a scene. Then he stormed to the show office and demanded admission. The show official listened politely and then said, there are always two sides to a situation. CHIO is staffed each year by dedicated, competent volunteers who are proud to wear the CHIO blazers. We could not run CHIO without the legions of volunteers. The woman who refused you entrance is an eight year veteran volunteer in a job that is difficult to staff. She was doing exactly what she was supposed to do when she refused admission to anyone without the proper pass. Instead of creating a scene, you merely had to come to the office and ask for the proper pass. I cannot criticize a volunteer for doing her job. Because you made our volunteer's job difficult, now I cannot only NOT give you a pass, I am telling you that you owe the volunteer a personal apology. The much smaller VIP immediately headed for his personal apology accepting that he would not be allowed to enter the reiter's club.
CHIO Aachen is an event backed by the entire city of Aachen, even those who are not interested in horse sports. The physical therapist, Ralf, participates annually in the CHIO cooking festival and has promised sauerbraten recipes.
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