TRAVEL WITH PANACHE
International Jumping of Monte Carlo
Considered one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, to be held in Monaco on June 23-25, 2011.

Edwina Alexander	Kevin Staut	Pius Schwizer	Marcus Ehning

The International Jumping of Monte Carlo takes place every year since 2006 in front of the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Rock of Monaco in the heart of the Port Hercule in an exceptional setting, surrounded by beautiful yachts. The Jumping of Monte Carlo has been able to surprise and delight spectators with its high level of competition and original environment. Since 2010, this Global Champions Tour took a new dimension with its Pro-Am Cup: a competition which welcomes teams of both professional and amateur riders.

Athina Onassis is the patron of the GCT, which welcomes the best riders according to the Rolex classification. 3.6 million euros in prizes will be distributed to the winners, with a bonus of 1 million euros to be shared among the top 18 riders classified at the end of the 9 stages of the GCT tournament. Charlotte Casiragui is the patron of this year's show and she is competing for Gucci with Edwina Alexander.

On Friday night, right after the competitions for the world ranking, fourteen teams will compete for a period of one and a half hours on a specific course made by course designer Frank Rothenberger. This competition links professional and amateur riders, emphasizing the family spirit of this sport.

Each team is sponsored by a different company, and is made up by one professional rider and one amateur rider. After the course walk, the competition starts with the amateur riders on a 1.30m course. Then, it is the professional riders' turn, with a 1.50m course. Each rider jumps one round and the cumulative result of both riders in the team is taken into account.

According to Daniel Deusser, an award-winning rider at Monaco in 2009, "Jumping is one of the fourth equestrian olympic disciplines. The aim of the game is to realize an imposed course in a minimum of time without striking down any bar. The layout is different between every fence and there are different options. Choosing one option instead of another can be the key to victory. At the beginning, each rider concentrates on doing large steps in order to take measurements, counting the number of steps which separate one obstacle from another in order to optimize the position of their horse once they are on the arena. That's how the rider shows his talent, by knowing his horse, the size of its steps and its reactions. They appear to be more than just a rider on a horse. They are a perfect symbiosis between head - the rider, and legs - the horse, where each knows how to anticipate each other's reaction, like centaurs doing a fantastic show."