Posted March 27, 2006

Derosa's Diary - Entry One
Article and photos by Diana DeRosa

An Innovative Approach to WEG 2006

Still more new ideas will be that the winning riders will have two medal ceremonies; one will take place after their victory rides (as has always been the case) on the competition grounds and the other will take place in town later that same day so that the town’s people can share in their victories. On the final Sunday all of the Individual Gold Medal winners will be taken by carriages through town where along the streets the people will wave white handkerchiefs. For the CHIO Aachen, which is an annual event that attracts some 300,000 spectators, the ritual is to wave the white handkerchiefs in the stadium. For WEG they want it to be just a bit more special and so the handkerchief “wave” will take place throughout the City of Aachen.

At the entrance of WEG a new horse sculpture will grace the facility. Kemperman said, “We wanted something nice at the entrance. And so to finance it we will sell 50 miniature bronze horses for 2,900 Euro each. That finances the sculpture and now we have a wonderful entrance. We try and think of ways to finance everything.”

There will also be a life size horse contest and display around town organized by the Aachen Horse Academy. Each horse will be the artist’s own creation. “We bought two horses for WEG,” explained Kemperman. “We will ask the medal winners to sign and we will sell them on the last night at the Gala dinner. And the money will go for therapeutic riding.”

And so there you have an insider’s view of some of what will be happening in Aachen during August when WEG 2006 comes to town and an expected crowd of 500,000 people will fill the hotels, savor food at the restaurants, cheer on the athletes at the various venues, and learn about all the wonderful culture, history and amenities that will inspire them to one day come back again to enjoy this wonderful City.