When the Hong Kong Observatory issued cyclone warning No 8 as tropical storm Pabuk bore down on the city last Friday, no group was more nervous than organizers of next year's Olympic equestrian events.
Locals and visitors alike were frightened when shops shut around 3 PM and people rushed headlong into traffic jams pelted by torrential rain during the mad dash for home.
International equestrian competitors were caught up in the chaos after marshalling for the Good Luck Beijing-Hong Kong 10th Anniversary Cup, the first international eventing competition ever held in Hong Kong and a test event for the newly built Olympic sites in Sha Tin and Beas River.
A field of riders and observers from leading equestrian nations including Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US attended the CCI2* event of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) last weekend.
Driving rain saw the trotting cancelled and Friday afternoon's horse inspections postponed to Saturday morning.
But the most worrying aspect of such weather for equestrian competitors is course conditions. Specifically, can venues quickly shed water to keep the earth dry enough for jumping?
Many are still haunted by last year's Doha Asian Games when South Korean rider Kim Hyung-chil died after a fall in wet conditions during the cross-country section of the three-day equestrian eventing competition.
But the success of last weekend's dressage and show jumping in Sha Tin and crosscountry at Beas River owed as much to outstanding drainage as good management.
Praise from International Olympic boss Jacques Rogge at Beas River boosted the confidence of local organizers.
"It is very promising. Everything is progressing well and we will have an absolutely fabulous Games here next year," Executive Officer of Equestrian Events Lam Woon-kwog said after the cross-country competition yesterday.
"So far the competition is going on very smoothly."
"There were no injuries or incidents reported and the bad weather gave us a good test of our facilities and organizations."
Positive feedback from equine specialists also raised the soaring spirits of organizers.
"The venue looks very good," Chinese Olympic eventing hopeful Hua Tian told China Daily after he finished his tour of the Beas River venue.
"The ground was very wet but the bed the horses galloped on was very good -- they probably have done a lot of work."
He was right, too, because the Hong Kong Jockey Club spent HK$800 million (US$100 million) on building the two Olympic venues.
"I have talked to a lot of the riders, spectators, overseas teams here and I would say 99 percent were positive," media and communications manager Li Tak Nang said.
"I had a little bit of worry this morning when it had a very heavy downpour, but when I arrived here, I saw all the courses here were perfect."
The courses have been designed to cope with any volume of water mother nature can send their way.
The Sha Tin dressage and show jumping venue have been designed to shed 110 mm per hour, according to Li.
"From our tests in the past few months, the venue can stand the rainfall of 130mm per hour at most," he told the China Daily.
"Rainfall brought by typhoons in August usually only last for several hours, so the venue should have no problem with the water."
The successful test also provided some relief to the course designers.
"It's a very valuable test for our work and we really made it," Beaus River design team manager Pako Pak Chung Ip said.
"Because we have a special design to shed a lot rainfall in a short period of time and keep a very good footing in all weather conditions."
The Sha Tin venue also earned a unanimous seal of approval from the foreign contingents.
"The feedbacks from the riders, team leaders and FEI technical delegates are very positive," deputy CEO of the Equestrian Company Miranda Chiu said.
The British team dispatched 30 team members to accompany three riders to the Olympic test event.
"The reason we spend the money is to experience the climate and learn how to deal with it," British Olympic team leader William Connell said.
"We brought a lot of vets and physiologists with us. With the huge cooperation with the observatory here and the jockey club, I am quite certain we will develop a protocol that will allow our Olympic level competition while ensuring the welfare of the horses."
(China Daily August 15, 2007)
