Starting order for the Mercedes-Benz Nations’ Cup drawn
It will be one of the highlights of the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2007: The Mercedes-Benz Nations’ Cup, part of the Samsung Super League series, which will be held for the first time on Thursday evening as a floodlit event. The British Chef d’Equipe, Derek Ricketts, took the rather unpopular starting order with humour: “Well, at least the ground will be still good then and perhaps we will get better weather than the subsequent riders.” The remaining starting order: Switzerland (2), USA (3), Belgium (4), The Netherlands (5), Sweden (6), France (7), Germany (8).
The Swiss team will be second to compete. “At least we will get the chance to see one rider, that is an advantage. Christina Liebherr won’t be riding, she was actually released from hospital today, but she will be following the competition from the grandstand and will be keeping her fingers crossed for us,” explained Rolf Grass, the Swiss Chef d’Equipe. Satisfied with drawing eighth place, Markus Beerbaum commented on behalf of the German National Coach, Kurt Gravemeier: “I think Kurt will be pleased that we will be riding last and hopefully we will also enter the second round as the last riders too.” The Dutch Team Coach, Rob Ehrens was pleased with drawing fifth place: “That means we can already watch four riders and will know exactly how it’s looking with the time. Then we can simply ride quicker than the others,” he joked. The Belgian Lucien Somers concluded: “We are very happy starting fourth and hope to be able to achieve this ranking as our overall result.”
The Mercedes-Benz Nations’ Cup begins at 7 p.m., the prize-giving ceremony is expected to take place at around 10.35 p.m.
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