I AM writing this week’s editorial from what is possibly the nicest press room I have ever worked from, in A Coruña, Spain at the Longines FEI European Championships. As you can see from the picture below, the press area overlooks the vast indoor arena at the Casa Novas Equestrian Centre in the North Western region of Spain where the weather has been perfect for horses this week - mostly overcast with a little bit of rain and some moments of intense sun - very Irish!

I must say the venue is perfect for the horses. Every athlete I have spoken to this week is delighted with the facilities. There is a 500m gallop track where horses have been able to hack out and, as I write this, I can see horses hand-grazing in the paddocks behind us.

The sport has been superb this week. A championship is always a balancing act for the course designer on the opening two days because, with 18 teams and 85 starters in total, it is important to build to a standard that is fair for the lesser nations while also challenging the top riders. Spain’s Santiago Varela is designing this week and he has received much praise already for being one of the best in the world.

Perhaps one negative to this championship is the lack of spectators. The venue is just under 20km from the city of A Coruña and the stadium capacity doesn’t lend itself to a huge crowd, in comparison to Rotterdam for the Europeans in 2019, where the big grandstand was packed with fans in a city venue. That said, because of the compact venue, the majority of available seats are filled and they are making themselves heard.