For the french.... WEG improvements for 2014 (yes, Normandy is in France... P3...)

[Doodlebug1]

OK I’ll start…

I had a great time, I really, really did, but there were a few very odd decisions… I don’t mean any of this as criticism, but if there are any french organisers on here, these things would have made the event so much better. Please learn from WEG 2010…

1. Scoreboards please - so you can see how people and teams are doing. Scores that go up asap not ones you can only see the next day.

2. Print outs at the end of the day with the day’s results.

3. Big screens so you can watch the action from somewhere other than the XC course. (ie around the shops). If you are going to supply big screens - remember to also supply sound. The big screens in the main arena were wasted on XC day as you could only see a picture and hear nothing.

4. Food (Crepes please to the French organisers… they’re my favourite!) on the XC.

5. A trot up sheet in the order that horses are going to be trotting up in.

6. No pics of the SJ course that is right in front of you on the last day of the eventing. Please use the space for a team order/results. I appreciate the reverse order individuals list that you provided on the right hand side, but really, the individual results are only half the story.

7. Clearer information about parking. Seriously. The freestyle dressage was laughable.

8. Clear rules for the volunteers. We were told on Saturday when we went in that we could leave after the eventing dressage and come back for the freestyle as long as we displayed the parking ticket. When we came back for the freestyle dressage we were told not and charged another $20. Ouch.

9. For the freestyle dressage - the split scores please.

10. For trot ups - good visibility please. (Burghley does it well).

11. Please allow people back to their cars. Please. Not just for shopping, for all sorts of reasons. Someone in your party might need a nap - not everyone is fully fit and healthy; you might have forgotten your kids spare clothes, nappy changing equipment - not being allowed back is ridiculous; shopping; people arriving on different flights and coming direct to the event but not being allowed ot bring their bags in… if you can’t go out and give them the key, show where the car is it’s a nightmare…

12. Information available at the start of the day (charge $2 if you must) about EVERYTHING going on - just because it’s eventing dressage day doesn’t mean I don’t want to know about the reining demos etc.

OK, so that’s my top 12. As I Said, I had a brilliant time, but some things did seem a little strange for a competition of this calibre.

[Coreene]

My guess is they will follow Aachen’s template instead.

[andy.smaga]

[QUOTE=Coreene;5150291]
My guess is they will follow Aachen’s template instead.[/QUOTE]
I will forward your list to the organizers, some great ideas.
Thanks and I hope that you will come to Normandy.

[maudie]

Just for the record… There was food on XC (top of the hill behind the big screen), and there was a big screen outside of Bit of Britain

[Kinsella]

Good list, but from an organizers standpoint #2 is a logistical nightmare. Trust me. As the one sitting in the office waiting to get those results so I could get them printed for the athletes, it takes a lot of time to run copies. And to run enough to make it worth it for the spectators? Hours that no one wants to wait around. If you were there, you knew the results. If you were home, they were available online. If it was something you weren’t watching, it still doesn’t make sense from an inside standpoint to make thousands of copies of something no one is going to want to buy (hey, paper and toner aren’t free!) because they can look it up online as soon as they get home.

Also, didn’t know there was an issue with the Trot Ups… The two we did went right down the list horse by horse.

[vineyridge]

I wanted people movers. Not just golf carts for the big wigs and competitors and their staffs. I’d have paid for a people mover ticket. They needed shuttles inside and outside the park, from parking to the entrances gates, and from venue to venue.

Why didn’t they have the big handwritten score and leaderboard that is used at Rolex in a couple of places–by the main gate, by the main stadium, and by each venue? You wouldn’t need to have instantaneous results, but updated a couple of times a day.

[Happyhooves]

Am starting today (clink. hear those coins dropping into the piggy bank?) to save $$$ to go to the Games in Normandy.

I loved WEG Kentucky and had so much fun, but if the Normandy games organizers will keep basic comforts in mind (access to reasonably priced food and drink, seating areas so you can actually enjoy said food and rest–while perusing clear maps–clean bathrooms, return to cars so you can stash purchases instead of not buying because stuff’s too bulky to fit into the stands, people movers for the Great Unwashed who aren’t bigwigs but paid for tix for themselves and friends and family), I believe they will find more non-frustrated, rested, refreshed and eager spectators willing and able to support, spend and shop at the games.

How did this WEG compare to past ones held in Europe in terms of being spectator friendly?

[ridgeback]

I live here and I’m at the hunter/jumper shows at the horse park all summer long but holy cow did you have to walk a long ways. I went to the driving yesterday and it had to be 2 1/2 miles in the heat… I was to worn out to shop when I went to an event…LOL

[mares_tails]

If you thought it was a long walk from one end of the Kentucky Horse Park to the other, try this walk in Normandy.

[ridgeback]

[QUOTE=mares tails;5150716]
If you thought it was a long walk from one end of the Kentucky Horse Park to the other, try this walk in Normandy. :D[/QUOTE]

Why would you have to walk that?

[SmplySweet1021]

I honestly don’t think the games will be the same. This is the first and maybe only(?) time the Games will all be at one venue. The feel won’t be the same at Normandy because the games will be in different areas.

Also to those talking about the walks–Organizers did want to put down more golf carts to move people but unfortunately logistically it couldn’t work with the amount of carts already on the road.

[vineyridge]

[QUOTE=SmplySweet1021;5150737]

Also to those talking about the walks–Organizers did want to put down more golf carts to move people but unfortunately logistically it couldn’t work with the amount of carts already on the road.[/QUOTE]

Bull hockey! They could have run regular timed shuttles from the barns to the grooms’ and officials’ lodgings and around the Park. All those grooms racing around the Park in the golf carts were totally unnecessary.

Rolex has handled things much better in the past, although I do admit they didn’t have as many venues to cover. This year at Rolex was as bad as the WEGs, and that’s because they were practicing.

[r3dd0g]

[QUOTE=SmplySweet1021;5150737]
I honestly don’t think the games will be the same. This is the first and maybe only(?) time the Games will all be at one venue. The feel won’t be the same at Normandy because the games will be in different areas. [/QUOTE]

According to the people in the Normandy pavilion, only the Endurance will have a separate location–from Argentan to Mont Saint Michel. They told us the rest of the disciplines will all be at the racetrack in/near Caen.

[SmplySweet1021]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;5150755]
Bull hockey! They could have run regular timed shuttles from the barns to the grooms’ and officials’ lodgings and around the Park. All those grooms racing around the Park in the golf carts were totally unnecessary.

Rolex has handled things much better in the past, although I do admit they didn’t have as many venues to cover. This year at Rolex was as bad as the WEGs, and that’s because they were practicing.[/QUOTE]

Sorry that is what my supervisor said to me and she is pretty high up in the organization. I think the athletes that those grooms were running around for would highly beg to differ on your opinion of them needing a golf cart.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Rolex is one event and one weekend. This was 2 weeks with 8 disciplines and a “world” event i.e. a lot more security. I don’t think you can actually compare the two. Rolex doesn’t have national guard, FBI, secret service, homeland security, etc etc etc at the venue.

[riderboy]

FOOD! Better food, I am used to the Rolex style vendors and was very disappointed in what was offered at the WEG. And I better trade fair. Also very disappointing.

[mares_tails]

[QUOTE=ridgeback;5150730]
Why would you have to walk that?[/QUOTE]

Just sayin’… Kentucky is Kentucky and Normandy will be Normandy. KHP had the unique advantage & disadvantage of having ALL the disciplines compete at the same venue. If you didn’t mind walking, you could see several disciplines, the Trade Fair, Kentucky Experience, and the Equine Village demos all at the same site.

[andy.smaga]

[QUOTE=mares tails;5150716]
If you thought it was a long walk from one end of the Kentucky Horse Park to the other, try this walk in Normandy. :D[/QUOTE]
All the events will take place in Caen in the city center and close to each other, with the exception of Endurance who is planned to start at the Haras du Pin (built in 1715 by Louis XIV) and end at the “Mont Saint Michel” 160km In Line race (check those two wonderful places on Wikipedia).
The Deauville event is a sport demonstration of Polo (not a WEG event) same for St Lo who will host a demonstration of Horse-Ball.
Link to the map http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1992/000aeo.jpg
There is a dedicated street to all 3 venues with shuttles (the red line) and the scale shows 170m that is about 1/10 of a mile, so from one end to the other there is about one and a half mile.
I’m sure the tickets and hotels will be cheaper than what was fixed for Lexington (or many french horse lovers will not be able to attend)
Organizers expect about 560,000 visitors.

Before the next WEG we will enjoy London 2012 Olympics

[Commander_Cody]

If there are big open parking lots (I parked in the volunteer one), how about some kind of row markers so you have a prayer of finding your car again especially after dark? I did OK except one day when I totally lost it and had to wander around.

And yes, second some sort of parking/exit control after a big event. Freestyle night was horrible and truly could have become dangerous. Imagine if there was an emergency among all those cars - there was no way in or out.

For volunteers, a place to eat away from the crowds and just a place to GO and get out of the sun/heat/rain whatever. And if you give “gifts” to volunteers, make them decent or don’t give them at all. And don’t cheat on “shifts” so that volunteers working multiple shifts don’t get their alloted food vouchers or “rewards”. That’s just cheap, IMHO.

Better maps for the facility that make sense and can be carried around.

Better signage.

Not complaining, I had a great time and would do it again, but still room to improve.

[Mickey_the_Marcher]

Here is a google satellite map of Caen… http://maps.google.com/maps?q=caen+france&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Caen,+France&gl=us&ei=-y-zTOnLCMOblgfFx7HlDw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ8gEwAA
Zoom in on the oval race track to get a closer look. The green fields to the south are where the XC etc will be. The stadium complex (Stade Ornano) just around the corner is where the dressage, jumping and stadium stuff will be.
Really sweet set-up. You could walk from XC right into the middle of downtown in a matter of minutes.

The endurance is a bit out of town, starts about 30 miles southeast, ends about 60-70 miles southwest. It will start here and end here. Be worth the drive though!!!

[Regal_Grace]

Caen was lovely

[QUOTE=andy.smaga;5150849]
All the events will take place in Caen in the city center and close to each other, with the exception of Endurance who is planned to start at the Haras du Pin (built in 1715 by Louis XIV) and end at the “Mont Saint Michel” 160km In Line race (check those two wonderful places on Wikipedia).
The Deauville event is a sport demonstration of Polo (not a WEG event) same for St Lo who will host a demonstration of Horse-Ball.
Link to the map http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1992/000aeo.jpg
There is a dedicated street to all 3 venues with shuttles (the red line) and the scale shows 170m that is about 1/10 of a mile, so from one end to the other there is about one and a half mile.
I’m sure the tickets and hotels will be cheaper than what was fixed for Lexington (or many french horse lovers will not be able to attend)
Organizers expect about 560,000 visitors.

Before the next WEG we will enjoy London 2012 Olympics [/QUOTE]

I was in Caen around 10 years ago, and I am sure WEG will be fabulous there along with much better food ; ) But that being said WEG at the Lexington/KHP was different beast alltogehter. There were pros and cons but I was there for only day (XC day) and had a fabulous time. Definitely better signage for the Trade area. I have been to Rolex before but I was totally confused by the layout as to where the most of trade stands were. But hey I did not buy the $15 program book nor did I scope out the WEG website before I left.

For those that do make it to WEG at Caen in 2014, try to go see the Normandy beaches (Omaha, Utah, etc) where D-Day Invasion took place (as well as the cemetaries USA, Great Britain and Germany too). Breathtaking, inspiring and hearbreaking. Left a lasting impression on me that I have not forgotten since. There is also a WWII museum in Caen that gives you a retrospective of the events.

Hope I can save enough $$ to back there again ; )