With the 2017 International season of sport just around the corner, Spruce Meadows held their annual media and athlete appreciation luncheon, and released information on what to expect this year.

Calgary native, Chris Surbey, who manages the horses at Spruce Meadows says there's an exciting competition to celebrate Canada's birthday this year.

"In terms of the show jumping there's a new initiative this year called the Canada 150 Speed Series, and so basically what they've done is designed a speed course, and they will run it at each of the tournaments this summer. What you'll find is as the riders progress through the summer, and get to know the course, they're going to get faster and more competitive and it's going to be quite exciting to see."

Surbey says this year Spruce Meadows will host four international tournaments, the Masters in September, and of course a number of local and regional tournaments over the season.

He adds there's a lot more to the equestrian park than just competitions.

"I think its just a very interesting place there's a wide variety of things to do, some people that haven't been here before think it's all just about the competition and that's a large part of but there's always other things to do, there's always something interesting going on, we have the first responders here this week, we focused on Canadian Forces last week, there's parks, and even stuff for the kids."

Amy Langois, who competes at Spruce Meadows says the park is not only great to visit for spectators, but a world class area for athletes as well.

"It's pretty crazy being able to compete in a place like this, you're just surrounded by incredible talent from all over the world. It really ups your game when you come here, you have the best course designers, everything runs right on time, it's just a great experience."

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