Equestrian Canada’s Eventing High Performance Advisory Group has announced the kick-off of a webinar series, “Conversations with Team Canada” beginning with ‘The Golden Team’ next Wednesday, Dec. 20th. Join Michael Winter (El Mundo), Colleen Loach (Fe Golden Eye), Lindsay Traisnel (Bacyrouge) and Karl Slezak (Hot Bobo) for an exclusive opportunity to connect with the Pan American Games eventing gold medal team as they share their personal stories from the history-making Santiago 2023 event.

This webinar marks the first in a series of free sessions dedicated to sharing the love and passion for the sport of eventing in Canada. Participants can enjoy an inspiring, insightful and exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the team’s journey and discover the stories that led them to victory.

HPAG co-chair Emily Gilbert remarked, “Our goal with this webinar series that will run through 2024 is to bring supporters, families, friends and Canadian Eventing competitors together monthly with engaging discussions and guests from the Canadian National Team and beyond.

“This series is free to attend and will provide an open discussion and educational content for all attendees with opportunities to ask high-performance athletes and experts questions in an online, webinar-style format.”

Highlights will include:

• Personal anecdotes from the gold medalists
• Insights into their training and preparation
• Q&A session for participants to engage directly with the athletes

This webinar is just the beginning of the HPAG series in support of the team’s “Pathway to Paris” campaign. The ultimate goal, of course, is to raise much-needed funds to get our athletes to the Paris Olympics. To that end, Gilbert explains, “Attendees can donate through the Canadian Olympic Foundation, HorsePower-Eventing Fund (you need to select HORSEPOWER-EVENTING from the drop-down menu) or through a GoInspireMe page which will launch on the evening of the first webinar series.

“Through these channels, all funds donated will go directly to the High Performance Advisory Group to support the Canadian Eventing Team athletes. This will include support for all National Team Program athletes through training opportunities delivered by the HPAG throughout the year and to directly support the Canadian Team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.”

HPAG’s fundraising goal for 2024 is targeted at $250,000 and will include additional events such as an online auction slated for mid-February, a Red-and-White-themed tailgating celebration at the Land Rover CCI5* in Kentucky in April, and other initiatives.

Save your spot now by registering and secure your front-row seat to this incredible conversation with the champions. Participants are encouraged to pose question for the “Golden Team” and also make suggestions for future webinar topics.

Webinar Details:

Conversations with Team Canada – The Golden Team
Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM EST

REGISTER HERE

Gilbert says that four webinars have been confirmed to date, “but that may expand to include more depending on the popularity of this series.” The next three will tentatively be:

Webinar 2: January 18th, 5:00-6:30 EST: Women of Canadian Eventing (with Jessie Phoenix, Hanna Bundy, Kendal Lehari and Katie Malensek)
Webinar 3: TBD – Three of the riders named to the U25 Development Squad
Webinar 4: TBD – Training young horses

Gilbert concludes that these interactive events are intended to unite and ignite the community in sport. “Canadian Eventing High Performance is working diligently to grow and connect the eventing community, both grassroots and high performance in Canada.”

~ with files from Equestrian Canada