Matthew Straker has resigned from the BEF after four years as Equestrian World Class Performance Director, due to personal reasons.

Appointed in 1999, Matt produced the sport's first long term World Class Performance, Potential and Start Plans, attracting over £8.5m of Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England.

He was at the vanguard of the establishment of a performance culture in equestrian sport, and a support structure of Performance staff, integrated with UK Sport, UKSI, EIS, BOMC, and BOA for Great Britain's World Class riders.

He was instrumental in developing a multi-discipline "British Equestrian Team" image and led medal-winning Teams at Sydney (2000) and the WEG (2002).

Philip Billington, speaking for BEF, paid tribute to Matt's development of robust World Class Programmes for equestrian sport, and wished him success in the future.

www.bef.co.uk

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