Canada’s athlete of the year, Lamaze, is offered new chances

Published: 12-14-2011

The sponsors of the Canadian show jumper Eric Lamaze are determined to secure him a spot back at the highest sports level. In order to do so Eric's sponsors bought him three new mounts, one of which ‘Hunters Scendix' was bought only last week. The two other horses, both 9 year olds, are ‘Verdi', formerly ridden by Dutch Young Rider Stephanie van den Brink and ‘Luikka' of Irishman Shan Breen. The last named horses made their debut at GP level in 2011.
Besides receiving these new opportunities, Cavalor sponsored Lamaze and Hickstead have been nominated as Canada's athlete of the year on CBC sports. Canada's national public broadcaster has nominated twelve athletes. But it was the Olympic champions Lamaze and Hickstead that received the overwhelming majority of the votes from the public. Sports journalist Scott Russell said that they were ‘world's best' and for many Canadians, restored a sense of wonder to sport in 2011. "We are proud to name Eric and Hickstead as the ‘Athlete of the Year.' 
On top of all this, Lamaze was also recognized as the winner of the ‘Rider of the Year' award, for the second year in a row. This nomination was held Saturday evening, December 10, during the CSI5*-W Geneva show jumping tournament in Switzerland. The winner of the ‘Rider of the Year' title is determined by vote by the members of the International Jumping Riders Club, and is awarded by the equestrian publication yearbook, L'Annee Hippique.