With 250,000 people attending, 96 riders and 150 horses, the event is an unmissable date in the equestrian calendar, and this year's trials, in May, were no exception.

Sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, the 60th anniversary event took place on the 1,500 acre Badminton Park, Gloucestershire.

With the cross-country day being one of the largest sports days in terms of world attendance, Badminton offers the richest cash prize for an event in the world, at £60,000. This year, 13 nations were represented including the USA, Italy, Germany, Australia and Great Britain.

But as with any such event, there is always a great deal of organisation going on behind the scenes.

One of these mammoth tasks involves co-ordinating all the riders, grooms and helpers, and ferrying them across the grounds throughout the event, shuttling between arenas, stabling and horseboxes.

The shuttle service is continuous, starting at 6am and finishing around 8pm. This year, it involved 20 volunteers who not only needed to stay dry and warm throughout the event but who also needed to be highly visible and stay safe. It was especially important for everyone to see them and to know who they were.

For this reason, Russell was given the opportunity to provide the jackets for all of the co-ordinators.

The new Russell 510M/F Hydraplus 2000 was an ideal fit for the co-ordinators' needs. Being waterproof, yet breathable, with critically taped seams, the jacket enabled the co-ordinators to stay warm and dry - not only from the elements but from body moisture, as they were required to work for 14 hours each day.

The new azure blue colour was chosen for high visibility and could easily be seen and not confused with other teams, for example, security. Decorated by Linela, from Olveston, Bristol, the jacket performed brilliantly compared with previous options.

Anne Johnstrup, chief co-ordinator for five years, commented: "For the first time, this year we had a jacket which truly met all our needs. The Russell 510M/F was a fantastic fit, both for the men and lady volunteers and kept us all extremely warm and dry through the entire event. 

"We try many outwear garments claiming to be windproof but this jacket truly lived up to its word. The bright colour and fantastic decoration allowed us all to be highly visible and therefore made it extremely easy for people to identify us, extremely important with 1.4 million visitors present. 

"We were delighted Russell gave us the opportunity to trial these jackets and I believe continuous comments from riders and grooms meant we weren't the only admirers."

The Russell 510M/F Hydraplus 2000 also sports additional product features such as articulated elbows and raglan sleeves for an active fit, storm flap with rain channel, reversed zips and soft touch inner collar along with a concealed three-piece hood. Available in black, titanium, classic red, azure blue and French navy these jackets are ones to watch.

For information on the new Intelligent Clothing jacket range from Russell, visit www.jerzeescolours.co.uk

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