Equestrian Canada will have to get by without a Chef d’Equipe

Equestrian Canada (EC) is once again without a Chef d’Equipe (team leader) for the Canadian Show Jumping Team.

On Wednesday, Jan. 11, less than a year after Eric Lamaze was named to replace Langley’s Mark Laskin, the national governing body for equestrian sport and horse welfare announced Lamaze would not be returning as technical advisor, jumping and Chef d’Equipe for the Canadian Show Jumping Team, after his one-year contract expires Jan. 31.

Equestrian Canada said its High Performance Advisory Group - Jumping (HPAG) and EC staff “will take over current roles and responsibilities of the Technical Advisor on an interim basis.”

”With the Pan American Games on the horizon in October 2023 and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games only 18 months away, the HPAG will be provisionally overseeing the technical aspects for the teams, selections and appointing Chef D’Equipe positions for competitions.”

Lamaze, a show jumping athlete from Montreal, has been battling brain cancer since 2017 and last competed for Canada in September 2021 when he anchored the Canadian Show Jumping Team to victory in the BMO Nations’ Cup at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, AB.

Lamaze took over from Laskin, who announced his resignation in November of 2021, citing lack of a contract and “interference” by Equestrian Canada leaders who, he said, lack understanding of the sport.

In response, an Equestrian Canada statement said Laskin had resigned prior to the release of a review of his position, “completion of the job description, and the move into the hiring process.”

READ ALSO: Langley’s Laskin Resigns as Canadian Show Jumping Team Chef d’Equipe

In March, Lamaze guided the Canadian team to second-place finishes in both the Nations’ Cup in Wellington, FL, and the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ in Coapexpan, Mexico.

READ VIDEO: Langley’s Mark Laskin returns to show jumping with Team Mexico

In June, Laskin, the newly appointed Chef d’Equipe of Team Mexico, engineered the Junior Nations Cup victory by the four-rider squad of Sofia Michel, Ana Sofia Legorreta Hernandez, Federica Fernandez and Xaviera Maurer Buch over Canada and the United States at Langley’s Thunderbird Show Park.