THE Association of Irish Riding Clubs has announced that the Masters Series will not be taking place next year and therefore qualifier dates will not be sought from the regions.

The decision was made by the Executive Committee as participation levels have declined at the qualifiers as well as in the final. Introduced in 2007, the series has changed from a league format to a qualification format and from a two-day final to a one-day final. Other changes included the introduction of a division for intermediate riders. The series final was hosted at various times throughout the calendar year.

DROP IN PARTICIPATION

AIRC chairman Tony Ennis said: “It concerned us that participation at the qualifiers for the series fell by 25% in recent times. Upon reflection and a number of reviews over the years, we have reluctantly decided to cancel series for 2017.”

“We tried everything to help this series, which was initially introduced to provide a competitive platform for the higher graded riders in show jumping, but the numbers are just not taking part in the qualifiers to justify the costs involved in staging the series each year,” he added.