New Faces and New Chair for Canada's Eventing Committee

Equine / Equestrian Canada have announced the makeup of the 2018 Eventing Committee.

After 4 years, Peter Gray is no longer on the Committee. Gray has been Chair during a very tumultuous time for Canadian Eventing which saw multiple appeals, including the 2016 Rio Olympic appeal involving Jessica Phoenix which saw an extremely rare awarding of $35,000 towards Phoenix’s legal costs due to EC's conduct. 

It is not clear if Gray remains as one of the 9 Category A Voting members for Sport .

Per EC's Governance Operations Manual, the Eventing Committee is appointed by the CEO. This is one of many changes brought in by (now departed) Eva Havaris during her tenure, as up to 2015 the Eventing Committee was democratically elected.

Full press release follows: 

Equestrian Canada (EC) is pleased to announce the members of the 2018 Eventing Committee.

Following the close of applications in September 2017, the following individuals have been appointed for 2018:

Ruth Allum (Chair) – Ashton, ON
James Atkinson – Ramona, CA
Patricia Elias – Ascot Corner, QC
Pat Frewen-Lord – Erin, ON
Julie Johansson – Oliver, BC
Lori Leach – Harvey Station, NB
Sue Ockendon – Knowlton, QC
Rob Stevenson – Lakeside, NB
Kellie Towers – Burlington, ON

The committee members were appointed to the 2018 EC Eventing Committee based on their discipline-specific competencies and expertise, as well as their general strengths as collaborators and strategic thinkers.

Elias and Frewen-Lord are new to the Eventing Committee for 2018. Elias is a former elite athlete for Quebec in waterskiing and the current President of the Association canadienne de concours complet - Quebec (ACCCQ). Frewen-Lord is the current President of the Ontario Horse Trials Association (OHTA) and has been involved in equestrian sport throughout her life as an athlete, owner, volunteer and official.

The Eventing Committee wishes to recognize and sincerely thank outgoing committee member, Peter Gray of Orangeville, ON who devoted the past four years to serving as Chair of the Eventing Committee. In addition, the Committee thanks Peggy Hambly of Guelph, ON for her dedicated service to the Eventing Committee before moving on to fulfill an interim term as EC President in 2017.

About the EC Eventing Committee
The Eventing Committee is the committee of Equestrian Canada responsible for leading the strategy on programs and services for eventing development in Canada. For more information on programs provided by the Eventing Committee, visit www.equestrian.ca/sport/eventing .