Previous British Open Champions
- 2003 Robert Whitaker
- 2004 Nick Skelton
- 2005 Robert Smith
- 2006 Robert Smith
- 2007 Jessica Kurten
- 2008 Robert Whitaker
- 2009 Robert Whitaker
- 2010 Ellen Whitaker
The British Open Show Jumping Championships were launched in 2003 and have been held indoors during April of every year since.
For the first four years they were held at Sheffield Arena before moving to the NEC Arena, Birmingham in 2007.
The Championships have a unique competition format with the champion being determined by ongoing placings in three qualifying rounds and the final. The British Open title has become much coveted. One of the reasons for this is its policy of only inviting the top British and international show jumpers to compete. In its international classes, only the best (as defined by the British Showjumping Association) can participate.
The British Open also hosts national show jumping classes and is the Final for the BSJA Winter Grand Prix and the BEF Under 23 Classic and Championship.
In 2011 the British Open Show Jumping did not run because the organizer had not had one profitable year in the last eight years.
The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which had been destroyed by fire in 1936, and is on the same site as the former FA Cup Final venue which was used here between 1895 and 1914.
BMX racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing. BMX bicycle races are sprint races on purpose-built off-road single-lap race tracks. The track usually consists of a starting gate for up to eight racers, a groomed, serpentine, dirt race course made of various jumps and rollers and a finish line. The course is usually about 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and has large banked corners, which are angled inward, that help the riders maintain speed. The sport of BMX racing is facilitated by a number of regional and international sanctioning bodies. They provide rules for sanctioning the conduct of the flying, specify age group and skill-level classifications among the racers, and maintain some kind of points-accumulation system over the racing season. The sport is very family oriented and largely participant-driven, with riders ranging in age from 2 to 70, and over. Professional ranks exist for both men and women, where the age ranges from 17 to over 40 years old.
David Smith was an English professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog. He was trained by Ted Betley in Winwick, England before relocating to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to further his training under Stu Hart. While training with Hart, Smith met Stu and Helen Hart's youngest daughter Diana, whom he married on 7 October 1984. Their son Harry is also an accomplished professional wrestler who wrestled and won tag-team gold in WWE NJPW, Pro Wrestling NOAH,
Drum Corps International (DCI) is a governing body for junior drum and bugle corps based in Indianapolis, Indiana. DCI is responsible for developing and enforcing rules of competition, and for providing standardized adjudication, at sanctioned competitions throughout the United States and Canada.
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World Darts Council (WDC). Sports promoter Eddie Hearn is the PDC chairman.
John Whitaker MBE is a British equestrian and Olympian who competes in show jumping. He has won numerous international medals including an olympic silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC Television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as Match of the Day, Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Today at Wimbledon and previously Grandstand. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the BBC Sport website and through the BBC Red Button interactive television service.
The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Squash Championships in the 1970s, the British Open was generally considered to be the de facto world championship of the sport. The British Open Squash Championships are often referred to as being the "Wimbledon of Squash".
RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland.
The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, known widely as Hickstead, is an equestrian centre in West Sussex, England, principally known for its showjumping. It hosts two international competitions, the Al Shira'aa British Jumping Derby Meeting and the Longines Royal International Horse Show. The course was the first permanent showground for equestrian sport in the country, opening in 1960. The first Hickstead Derby was held in 1961.
Mounted Games is a branch of equestrian sport in which fast games are played on ponies up to a height of 15 hands.
The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS - was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA, Mike Ansell. As it was to be the end of Season Finale the show needed to be held indoors, making it a unique event.
Ellen Whitaker is an English show jumping rider, currently ranked 211 on the FEI riders Longines Ranking list in September 2019.
The FEI European Show Jumping Championships is the European Championship for the equestrian discipline of show jumping. First held in 1957 in Rotterdam, and on an annual basis, it is held every two years, on the years between Olympic Games and World Equestrian Games.
Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) is an Irish-owned independent professional wrestling promotion established in January 2002. The company is named after a wrestling move called the 'Irish Whip'. IWW runs shows Nationally throughout the whole of Ireland, both in The Republic and Northern Ireland. The company has appeared on numerous terrestrial and digital channels and had a weekly show called WHIPLASH TV on The Wrestling Channel, which aired from 2005–2006 throughout the UK and Ireland.
Edinburgh International Climbing Arena is an adventure sports facility located in Ratho, near Edinburgh, Scotland. Built in a disused quarry, it is one of the largest indoor climbing walls in the world.
The British Jumping Derby meeting – known as the Al Shira'aa Hickstead Derby Meeting – is an annual showjumping event held since 1961 at the Hickstead in June every year. It is considered one of the premier events in the equestrian calendar.
Olympia London International Horse Show is one of the UK's biggest equestrian competitions, held at Olympia, London. It is best known for its showjumping, however it also has competitions in horse showing, driving, mounted games, dog agility and more recently dressage. Evening sessions are broadcast live by the BBC each year, with the puissance. It is held over seven days in the week preceding Christmas that involves over 400 horses and ponies, and many of the events are Christmas themed.