The "fastest class in the World"

 

The Longines Speed Challenge, with prize money of €100,000 takes place over a 1.45m course. An event which is full of emotion and suspense, it has become something that the audience really looks forward to.

 

Created in Paris in 2010 by EEM, this class requires perfect timing and infinite precision, two values which are dear to the Longines brand, a passionate supporter of equestrian sports.  It differs slightly from traditional speed classes because a fault only leads to a two second penalty, instead of the usual four. A fallen rail needn’t be crippling, therefore, and riders can still hope to catch up these two penalty seconds by going just that little bit faster. This modification has given this high-flying sporting class an even more spectacular dimension. For this new season of the Longines Masters, a new course will be designed which will remain unchanged for each of the three legs: from Los Angeles to Hong-Kong via Paris, there will be the same line and the same number of obstacles, at the same height (1.45m).  So the riders will be able to improve their speed skills from one continent to the other!

 

It is one of the Villepinte audience's favourite classes because, in general, the French riders excel at it. And these riders play to the crowds, including Roger-Yves Bost, the 2012 winner who took part again last year, but had to concede to Brazil’s Alvaro Alfonso de Miranda Neto and Germany’s Christian Ahlmann. The first four riders in the Longines Speed Challenge in Paris finished within the same second! 

 

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