Due to weather complications, I attended WEG’s alone. I was able to park across from the entrance in a private parking lot and was shuttled over with no wait and picked up within minutes of calling for my ride. I had NO traffic on any of the three days I was there. Thursday was AHMAZING! The last hour of dressage was a nail biter. I had my rain boots on Wednesday when I arrived because I have a friend who is a vendor and she’d given me the scoop. I ran into a friend I had not seen in years Wed and sat with her and her friend all day. Thursday and Friday I just wandered about and chatted up tons of people including an endurance rider. Horse people are amazing and most people were really happy to make due and go with the flow. the volunteers were incredibly nice and as helpful as they could be with the little info they had. I found order of go sheets every day. Little to no lines for porta potties and beverages. Wish I would have stayed thru Saturday but I left early to make it over the mountains before Flo. It was better than Atlanta in terms of lines and ease of getting around the facility. The walk between events and the shops was much shorter than KY. The shopping was very good and you could actually get into the tents to see the merchandise.
I would go back again and hope that I have reason to attend a large event there in the future.
Was it finished, no? Were there crews everywhere working non-stop to finish as best they could, yes. What was finished was well done, and I think the actual overall design seemed to work. I hope they finish it all and it keeps on hosting events.
I agree with you, Mellsmon; four of us went W, TH & F and had a terrific time! We were planning to be there for the Freestyle as well, whatever day it would have happened. D*mn you, Florence!
Yes, there were some lines. We expected lines, so no biggie.
NO lines for the MANY, CLEAN portolets, how nice!
Food lines were not bad, and there were lots of choices.
Lots of shopping…not sure whether that’s good or bad :lol::lol::lol:.
The volunteers were amazimg! They really worked hard to keep everyone informed. If there were hold ups or delays they kept updating and apologising, so even if we had to wait we always knew what was going on. Those volunteers rocked!
Yes, it was hot (especially Wed), but it’s September in the south. Tryon is in the foothills, not the mountains; the weather is a crapshoot. Sometimes mountain coolness, sometimes lowland sauna. Dress accordingly and stay hydrated.
Three full days of watching international dressage competition was wonderful and I’ll go back if they hold the WEG there again.
I went with a friend and we had the BEST time. I seriously have no complaints. I’m back at work now wishing I was still there…
We had a great time last Friday. Parking was a breeze, but we arrived early. No wait for a shuttle. I think that they add additional buses. Same at the end of the day. Maybe waited in line about 10 min for a shuttle back to the parking area.
Shopping was good. Food was good. Easy to walk around. Plenty of stations to buy drinks. Plenty of bathrooms. We had tickets for regular seating for the days Dressage and thought they were acceptable. Pleasant staff and workers.
The seating was wide open so we moved higher up for a better view. I think a lot of people either didn’t show up or canceled their plans due to the impending storm.
We are headed back on Thursday to watch some show jumping. I think it will be quite a bit busier so it will be interesting to see how things work on that day.
My friend and I had a wonderful time. This is our third WEG (Lexington, Normandy, Tryon) and every venue has its high and less than high points. Sure, was the facility completely finished and ready for a photo shoot from Architectural Digest? No, but Mr Bellissimo was working under very limited time constraints. The arenas were wonderful for the horses with great footing, the XC course interesting and challenging. The volunteers were outstanding and very helpful. Sure, the lines for the shuttle were long, but we took the opportunity to meet and greet people standing with us and had some great conversations. The “food trucks” were a great idea and certainly an upgrade from standard horse show food at many venues
Was the weather great? Not hardly, but I expected heat and humidity in the south, just maybe not to this degree. It was nice that management made it open seating so people could move into the area shielded by the canopy/overhang as that took us out of the direct sun. On Thursday, Day 2 of the team dressage, I really enjoyed watching the spectacular clouds roll in, apparently signaling the leading edge of Florence. I kept taking pictures and sending them back to my friends on the West Coast as I thought they were magnificent (despite what they portended).
Did anyone have troubles getting to see the start of the XC? I doubt it, as we walked right down and watched the whole day I’m sure many of us remember XC day at Normandy and the long line of vehicles on a small country road, people just stopping anywhere and walking the rest of the way to the event, hoping they could catch a few rides before it finished. It was cold and rained off and on. I remember long lines in Normandy to enter the stadium, we sometimes waited more than 30 minutes to pass through the security checks… And, just for memories, how many people remember the mens’ “restrooms” at the XC in Normandy? If you are male, I’ll bet you remember - the toilets were simply partial plywood dividers against another large piece of plywood with buckets at the front of each “stall” so the guys could pee into the buckets. (And yes, I have a picture to prove it) And many of the toilets at the stadium in Normandy were of the “hang and drop” variety. Toilet paper, what’s that? The bathrooms in Tryon were numerous, clean and well stocked.
Perhaps one of our best moments (and memories) is of standing in line the first day waiting for the car park shuttle. Many of you may remember an earlier post of mine regarding our extra, paid for BnB cabin/room in a nearby town. Well, when we were standing in line, we happened to strike up a conversation with two gentlemen behind us connected to the German reining contingency (they had the ubiquitous official hang tangs around their necks, horse owner and parent of competitor). In conversation, it turned out that their hotel had messed up their reservations so they were without accommodation. The hotel was trying to accommodate them, but had to move them each night to a different room. My friend and I turned to each other, and turned to them and said, “in the interest of American-German relations, and because we are all horse people and horse people take care of each other, we are going to solve your problem.” We call the proprietor of the BnB and asked him to transfer the paid accommodation to these two gentlemen so they had a place to stay, gratis. They were quite thankful and we tried to get over to watch their country’s/daughter’s rides.
We always come early to WEGs so we can see the area and I fell in love with Asheville (stayed in Asheville). Lovely location with the mountains, great mecca for craft arts (I have several stunning new pieces of pottery in my suitcase) and great food. We went up on the Blue Ridge Mountains Parkway and it was lovely. We had an excellent dinner at “Plant” which is a very creative, excellent vegan restaurant that even carnivores should find tasty. It reminded me of a restaurant in my area same idea and creativity/menu, so I stopped to talk with the sous chef and told him this. He replied that I wasn’t imaging things as they were quite familiar with my restaurant as its chef/owner had spent quite a bit of time with the chef at “Plant” helping them get started. Small world, eh?
So, we had a wonderful time seeing great horses and riders, wonderful cross country, great people, lovely scenery, etc. We hope everyone there for week two enjoys their time as much as we did.
Me! Awesome time! I posted on another thread that if I didn’t keep up with Social media, I wouldn’t have realized there was an issue. The facility was under construction in areas, but all the areas that were being utilized were well done, safe, and spectator friendly. Some people just like to complain. I heard people praising WEG in Kentucky then moaning about the temporary stadium seats in Tryon as in “ugh, they didn’t even have time to finish so they had to put up temporary seats.” I politely pointed out that this is common practice when venues are hosting an event that’s larger than their normal anticipated crowds and they did that for WEG when it was in Kentucky as well. They likely didn’t notice in Kentucky since they weren’t looking for things to complain about. (well I didn’t say that last part to them, but should have!) Alas, your experience is what you make of it, and I had a fabulous experience!
I was there Tuesday and Wednesday and had a great time. I’d love to go to another WEG and stay for the whole thing.
We had a blast. Sat on the grassy hill for eventing dressage and had a grand time with drinks and fun. Cross country was fantastic. We never had an issue with the shuttles. Tbh the worst part was Monday listening to people bitch and moan about the about 10 minute wait for shuttles when they rearranged parking. Not sure how people can deal with being that negative all the time. It was draining just listening to them.
I do wish they would’ve had a video board/scoreboard up for the showjumping
I went prepared for a shitshow, and was blown away (not a phrase I generally like or use, but it fits this time) by just how much had been accomplished since the AECs. Yes, a lot was undone, still being done, not done quite right. But there were so many good things that it all really outweighed the bad. We spectators had a few inconveniences but nothing horrible. I was SO pleased that the real, non-porta bathrooms were still in use, kept clean and stocked, and there were even signs pointing them out. The food trucks were expensive, but I’d rather pay too much for really good, different food than too much for a hamburger made hours ago and kept in a warming pan.
I was so impressed with the conditions for the horses. The rings were amazingly good, as was that cross country course. That is NOT ‘arena eventing’ as I thought it might be. There are some bugs to be worked on out there, namely more crossing points over the creek, but I’m sure that’s in the plans. The random potted ferns you saw on course were marking drains, and they were everywhere. So, despite the course being in a valley and the area having had more than its share of rain already, the course was amazingly good. There were volunteers in plenty too to see that the takeoff and landing areas of the fences stayed good.
I also have to hand it to Mark Philips for putting together a testing 3* course that rearranged the leaderboard of 4* horses without a catastrophe. I’m not a fan of the frou-frou jumps, but I realize they needed a lot of that for TV appeal, and in fact, the weird ones (the bee, the still) rode just fine.
I take back pretty much all the horrible things I said before going. I had a great time and I gotta hand it to the whole TIEC crew for doing a superhuman job, for WEG eventing at any rate.
I volunteered last Friday and Sunday (before the games started) and let me say that I was worried. But we had a fabulous time watching the Dressage and reining. The amount of work done finishing the Media center between Friday and Wed was nothing short of astonishing. I had no problems with the temporary stadium seating. I was happy to have a back to my seat. I seem to remember that we had bleacher seats at the Kentucky WEG.
We got to meet most of the reiners on Sunday during our shift indoors and they were such a nice group of people, both competitors and support personnel.
We did our best to support the amazing vendors and probably spent way too much money. The vendors that I helped unload on Friday remembered me when “out of uniform” and were grateful for the help.
And of course, we were thrilled to be honorary members of Team Ecuador to support Julio Mendoza and Chardonnay (along with most of Wesrtern NC). I clinic with him, and he is such a fantastic, enthusiastic instructor. I loved that he came up to the stands after his ride to visit with his people! His smiling face absolutely made the games for me.
I went Thursday, Saturday and Monday. I had a great time and was able to see it get a bit better and more organized each day. The longest I had to wait for a shuttle was 20 min at 5 pm Thursday. Everyone was super friendly and making the best of it. I also went to KY in 2010; while Tryon wasn’t as organized and prepared as KHP I think they did an amazing job with a short time to get ready.
Nice to read the positivity. I cannot be there in person, so am watching as much as I can live-streaming. Wish I was there!
I loved every bit of it… had a blast.
I sat on the grassy Hill on eventing dressage on Friday morning as well. 
I was up at the top of the hill fairly close to the seats in the shade.
I had so much fun that I exchanged my Freestyle ticket for a jumping ticket on Friday and I’m taking an extra day off work to go. It is really special seeing so many incredible athletes up close.
Showjumping day 1 was awesome! Everyone here is incredibly nice and is going out of his/her way to be helpful. It’s refreshing to see volunteers and staff looking for ways to be helpful and improve spectator experiences. Jaded me expected the standard “could care less” approach.
The facilities are well done and we didn’t wait on anything. Never once waited on a restroom. Food trucks and vendors aplenty. Cushioned seats with cup holders.
The competition was everything we dreamed about (well 4 clears for USA rather than two 4 faulters, but not bad). The best in the world gave master class rides and the up and comers seem to leave with a mostly positive experience. Was so happy to see Karen Polle’s face after she finished.
The he most impressive moment of the day for me was when the entire stadium went silent during McLain’s rounds. Everyone was quiet, no matter who they traveled to see. Totally cool.
We walked around the facility and it really is beautifully done.
I’ve attended the Olympic Games in LA, Atlanta and Rio. Every World Cup in Las Vegas, and WEG in Aachen. Guess what, Tryon is hands down my favorite. OK, the naysayers will complain about the parking and the construction that was still going on. I will tell you that the venue was amazing. Plenty of great food (food trucks, soooo good) plenty of clean restrooms and an arena that put me up close to the action. The footing and stabling for the athletes was top notch. The volunteers were friendly and engaged, and they actually cared. Gotta love Southern hospitality! We absolutely loved exploring the Carolinas, Lake Lure, Asheville, Tryon, Campobello…what an incredibly beautiful area with wonderful and gracious people. I ate lunch (great Mexican food) and watched Ingrid Klimke work Hale Bob over cavellettis. I stood in line for coffee with Mark Todd and Tim Price (Ya, kinda star struck…lol). But the best thing? I watched the best lineup of riders I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. Thank you to everybody who has worked tirelessly to bring WEG to the US, we appreciate everything you have done!
I’m so glad some positive threads were started!
I had a fabulous time volunteering week 1. It was incredible seeing the changes at the venue day by day - sure, when we wandered about on the Monday I was wondering how on earth stuff would be ready, but it honestly changed dramatically from one day to the next in the best possible way.
My single issue, which actually didn’t impact me but my veggie friend, is that they didn’t even pretend to cater to volunteers’ dietary requirements - lunch every day was a meat based wrap, and there was never an option, so she didn’t really get fed in accordance with expectations. But we managed, and after day 1 she brought extra snacks or bought stuff after our shifts, so whatever. The same girl had to subsist on plain rice and soggy vegetables for a week in Poland for the Europeans, so at least she’s used to it!
We were fence judges, and the whole of XC was really well organised and managed by sectors. I’ve done major championships before and this by far went the smoothest all through the week. Being able (and welcome!) to watch whatever we could catch without needing tickets was a great bonus too - when I volunteered at the Normandy WEG we were banned from sitting in the stands if we were in uniform, and it was impossible to get in with volunteer credentials unless in uniform, so this was a welcome change. And I defy anyone to tell me that the Caen football stadium was in any way a better venue than Tryon.
All in all, I had a wonderful time and am gutted to be back home and at work this week. I loved it.
My husband and I had tickets for the dressage GP Special on Friday and the Eventing x-country on Saturday. Didn’t buy tickets for the Freestyle, which I was originally bummed about but now glad we didn’t. We flew into Charlotte on Thursday from Toronto. I am very thankful that both events were able to be completed (was worried about the x-country, but we had barely any rain and it was quite mild for the horses!). The shopping was awesome - although I recommend not bringing along non-horsey husbands, as I was only able to get in about 1 hours worth.
I thought it was a well-run event. We had no issues with parking, the shuttles were abundant.
The only frustrations I had during our 2 days there were the lack of food at the x-country venue (there were 2 food trucks for thousands of people, huge line-ups, and the pizza truck ran out of pizza around 12:15PM), and the cost of the food & drinks. A pina colada for $20??? Water bottle $4, Coca Cola $5, boiled hot dogs for $5, small bag of chips $5. Not cool!
We were able to re-route our return flight on Sunday to Atlanta, GA and the weather was perfect, no issues. Not sure how flights out of Charlotte fared. I must say that we stayed in Greenville, SC during our stay and it is one of the most beautiful, surprising little cities in the US. I would recommend staying there if you are visiting the area. It is about 1 hour from TIEC. We hopefully will be returning soon!
