Horse & Hound – 01 August 2019

22 Horse&Hound1 August 2019

Pictures

by

RedBayStock.com

and

Leslie

Mintz

I

T is a yearuntilcross-countrydayat

theTokyoOlympicsandonSunday, 2

August 2020 thespotlightwillbeon

eventridersfromaroundtheworld—

butalsoonthecross-countrycourse-

designer,theUS’DerekdiGrazia.

Isthepressuredifferentdesigningat

a championship?

“Youjustdon’twanttomessit up,right?”

hesays,witha smile.“Butyou’realwaysgoing

totrytodesignthecourseyoushouldhave,for

whateverlevel.

“Witheveryevent,youhavetobegoing

backoverit againandagainandbehappy

withthecourseoverall.If I thinkit’sfairandis

askingtherightquestions,it’suptotheriders

togooutanddothejob.”

At63,Derekis a tall,spareman,softly

The Tokyo cross-country course-designer talks to Pippa Roome about how the

venue is developing, the ‘buzz’ of the job and why he’s still competing aged 63

spoken, with the strong hands of someone who

works outdoors, and a calm, gentle manner. He

has 40 years’ experience as a course-designer.

Before each Olympics, the FEI compiles

a list of suitable candidates for the course-

designer role and the Games organising

committee then runs an application process.

This is Derek’s first time being responsible for

an Olympic track, but Tokyo was the fourth

time he had been listed.

He received the call-up in 2016 and

planning is now well advanced.

“You get all this information about the

place where you’re going to design, but you

really don’t know what to expect until you

go,” he says. “The site for the cross-country

was basically built on this island which was

landfill. They’ve planted a lot of trees because

after the Games it’s going to be a city park.

“I had to make sure we could get the

distance and transform this property into

something which would be useful for

cross-country. Now, it looks like a golf course,

complete with water and irrigation. They have

really done a fantastic job.”

Features such as water, ditches and steps

are in position and Derek has long had every

jump mapped out. Britain’s David Evans won

the contract to build the course, so he and his

team work with Derek on the fence realisation.

An Olympics brings special challenges

because, while the course must be at the

required level — the new four-star (previously

three-star), for Tokyo — designers know some

competitors from the peripheral eventing

nations will be inexperienced.

Derek di Grazia

THE INTERVIEW