Aachen, May 16th 2006

CHIO Aachen 2006 will be broadcast in 130 countries
World Equestrian Festival starts on Wednesday

Nadine Capellmann

All over the world the equestrian fans will once again be glued to their televisions and radios when the international riding elite compete for the renowned prizes at the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2006 (May 17th-21st). "The CHIO will be shown on TV in 130 countries and even live in 30 nations," says Michael Mronz, General Manager of the Aachener Reitturnier GmbH (ART). And of course the cameras and microphones of the Westdeutsche Rundfunk, CHIO's media partner, will once again be omnipresent. Both WDR TV and WDR 2 radio as well as the WDR Studio Aachen will be bringing many live reports and summaries of the events at the Soers to us at home into our living-rooms.

"This year our tournament will also be a journey back into the past," stresses Klaus Pavel, President of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein (ALRV). Following the motto "50 years plus 1" the ALRV will be looking back on five decades of equestrian sport in Aachen. In 1955 Hans Günter Winkler won the show-jumping title at the first World Championships at the Soers, in 2006 Germany will be organising the World Equestrian Games in seven equestrian disciplines here for the first time (August 20th to September 3rd). "The visitors can particularly celebrate an emotional get-together with many equestrian legends at the official CHIO Opening Ceremony in the show-jumping stadium on Wednesday," states Pavel happily. From Hans Günter Winkler, Nelson Pessoa and the d´Inzeo brothers, to George Morris and Hugo Simon (all show-jumpers) through to Harry Boldt (dressage) and Bernhard Duen (driver). Many of whom won the coveted Grand Prix of Aachen - and all of them can be experienced live from 6 p.m. onwards in the show-jumping stadium. "We are especially pleased that the reconstruction work at the show grounds has enabled us to create larger capacities, which means we can still offer tickets for all days," says Michael Mronz. This also applies for the opening competition "The Baltic Horse Show Kiel - Ladies vs. Men, (Wednesday, 3.15 p.m.), when the next round of the "Battle of the Sexes" kicks off and there will be a preliminary decision as to "who is wearing the trousers" in the show-jumping sport. Meanwhile Nadine Capellmann will be celebrating her come-back in the German dressage team in Aachen after three years. "With Isabell Werth and myself, there will be two of us returning to the squad. This opens up totally new perspectives for the team", states the double World Champion of Jerez 2002. And which songs will be accompanying her freestyle test on her chestnut gelding, Elvis? Elvis Presley classics such as "Return To Sender" or "It´s Now Or Never" of course.

"We will be broadcasting the most important competitions live as always," says Sabine Hartelt, the editor in charge of the TV programme "Sport im Westen". Furthermore, 35 million radio listeners will be able to listen in all over Germany. "After all we do forward on our programme to all 65 waves of the ARD," explains Marcus Tepper of WDR 2 Radio. In fact his listeners have already made their decision: Riding currently beats football. During the last WDR telephone campaigns almost double the amount of people rang in for CHIO tickets than for Football World Cup tickets.

CHIO-Ticket-Hotline: 0241-917-1111.
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