Organizers and guests of the 2015 Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters at the press conference. Photo: Courtesy of Longines

The 2015 Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters, hosted by the Chinese Equestrian Association (CEA) and the National Stadium and organized by Dashing Equestrian, will take place at the Bird's Nest from October 23 to 25. As one of Beijing's iconic branded competitions and the first international event at the Bird's Nest to happen five years in a row, the three-day event will present an unparalleled equestrian feat.

The press conference for the event was held on September 17 at the Ludger Beerbaum Stable in Beijing. Li Nianxi, chief secretary of CEA, Juan-Carlos Capelli, vice president and head of International Marketing at Longines, Li Li, vice president of Longines China, Xiang Jun, secretary of the CPC Committee of the National Stadium, and Li Jing, president of Dashing Equestrian, attended the event.

This year, the Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters has returned with bigger and better stakes: 160 of the finest show jumping horses in China worth about 200 million yuan ($31 million) will compete in the event. What's more, the total prize is 1.58 million yuan, which marks a record high in China for amateur riders. It is expected that around 30,000 spectators will come to the event.

The rider selection system for the 2015 Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters is stricter than the previous years. The twelve international riders were required to be among the top 30 in the Federation Equestre Internationale Longines Ranking, and have been crowned in at least one Olympic, European or German championship.

Currently, the international rider cast includes a few famous names in the equestrian community, such as Scott Brash, the world's top ranking show jumper and Olympics championship and European championship winner, Ludger Beerbaum, a legend in the equestrian community, European champion Jeroen Dubbeldam, and Jane Richard Philips, the Longines ambassador of elegance.

As for Chinese riders, the 2015 Beijing Masters is only open to the top 22 riders in the annual CEA rankings. Currently, the domestic rider cast includes Li Zhenqiang, Liu Tongyan and Zhu Meimei, all among the most excellent riders in China.

To provide a more efficient platform for the best Chinese riders to communicate with their international counterparts, organizers made a bold innovation by adopting group competition system in the club championship. Also, the conventional competition system for individual riders has been changed to a China-international pair system. The pairs are chosen via a lottery system, and a Chinese rider and an international rider will compete against each other. This innovation not only puts more pressure on riders, but also makes the competition results more unpredictable.

Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters was born in the Bird's Nest, the home to the 2008 Olympic Games, so Olympic spirit has been deeply rooted in each session of the event. This not only makes up for the fact that the equestrian event was not held in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but also contributes to the efficient use and maintenance of the Bird's Nest in the post-Olympics era. In addition, derivative industries of the event such as horse leasing, transportation, and stable construction also bring enormous financial and social benefits to Beijing.

The 2015 Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters will benefit from improved infrastructure like lighting and sounding facilities in the Bird's Nest, and will deliver an unequalled opening ceremony and night sessions of show jumping.

In the next five years, the Bird's Nest will continue to serve as the host venue for Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters. The Bird's Nest is where the event was born, and in turn, Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters will be a powerful name card for the Bird's Nest and even for Beijing, with more breathtaking equestrian events and intense Olympic spirit.