Lord Coe: Time for the sports media to get ready for the Games

With 200 days to go to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, we head into the final lap of our journey towards staging two of the biggest sporting events on the planet – the Olympic and the Paralympic Games.

In a little more than six months, the global spotlight will be on London and the United Kingdom – 15,000 athletes, 7,000 technical officials and 20,000 accredited media from more than 200 countries will be in London and around Britain, while across the world 4 billion people will be tuning in on television across the Games.

We are working hard to ensure 34 competition venues and another 100 non-sporting venues are ready. LOCOG officially takes over the operation and running of the Olympic Park today, but there’s lots of work still to do. We need to install broadcasting facilities and studios, technology infrastructure, temporary event overlay, power cabling, water and waste systems, catering concessions, ceremony installations, field of play surfaces. We will be constructing 273 temporary buildings and seven canteens, sponsor showcasing buildings across the Park and Games Look throughout venues and common domain. The Orbit continues to be constructed and the Village will be fitted out and furnished.

We’ll continue testing and licensing our venues and training our teams, from security to catering through to cleaning, to ensure we’re ready to host the Greatest Show on Earth. We will be holding 11 test events in Olympic Park venues between February and May. During the first weekend in May, five venues and all the common areas of the Olympic Park will be in use, with 80,000 visitors expected to the Park on Saturday May 5 alone.

London's Olympic Park: due to be handed over from ODA to LOCOG today

We also need to ensure we have all the products and services we need to stage the Games and more than 1 million pieces of sporting equipment are required. As we head into the final stages of our procurement programme, we expect to award nearly £900 million worth of contracts, with 95 per cent of our spend has been within the UK. This will be a showcase for the UK’s large and small companies who have contributed to the world’s biggest sporting events.

Now is the time for the public to get ready and plan their summer. This festival of sport will see more than a thousand sports sessions and a variety of ways to experience them, whether as a ticket-holder, watching at a London 2012 Live Site around the UK, or watching the events unfold on television with family and friends.

But there are many more ways to celebrate this once-in-a-generation event coming to the UK and a specific Join In event listing site has been launched today to provide information to people across the UK.

Between May and July, the Olympic Torch will be coming within 10 miles of 95 per cent of the UK. Carried by inspirational people, the Torch will unite communities and herald the start of London 2012. There will be more than a thousand spectacular events taking place as part of the London 2012 Festival celebrating the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK’s world-class culture. Opening on June 21, this 12-week celebration will see events from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, to the remotest corner of the Shetland Islands, from the Raploch Estate in Scotland to Hadrian’s Wall on England’s most northern border, from Stonehenge to the shores of Lake Windermere, from the forests of North Wales and right into the heart of the capital.

Children in London 2012’s education programme “Get Set” will be celebrating work they’re doing supporting Olympic and Paralympic teams from around the world, learning more about athletes and cultures from the countries they’ve been studying.

Whether you’re an athlete, an artist, a member of the community looking to celebrate this summer, or a young sports journalist waiting to be blooded on their first Games or a seasoned sports reporter covering the Olympics, this is going to be an amazing year. So plan your summer now and make the most of the 2012 Games.

• To help plan your Olympic year, click here to visit the official LOCOG website

• JOIN THE SJA and benefit from a recognised press card, priority entry to key events and significant discounts and members offers on a range of activities, including entry fees for the SJA British Sports Journalism and Photography Awards.
• Click here for details of SJA membership and application forms.

There can’t have been many horses throughout history that warranted an obituary in The Times, especially not one whose sporting pinnacle was winning a lightweight race at the Isle of Wight point-to-point.

But then no other horse did that four years to the day after leading a cavalry charge during one of the most crucial battles of the First World War.

These days, when we think of a war horse, we think of the fictional Joey, star of Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse, which is soon to complete transfer from West End stage to screen with a Stephen Spielberg film.

But Warrior’s story was very real, and his story no less astonishing as Joey’s. A powerful bay standing 15.2 hands, Warrior was the charger of an army general and MP who sat in the British Cabinet alongside his great friend, Winston Churchill.

The general also has a famous grandson, SJA member Brough Scott, three times Sports Feature Writer of the Year, TV presenter, editorial director of the Racing Post and a former amateur jockey who rode at Aintree and Cheltenham. In 2003, Scott published Galloper Jack: A Grandson’s Search for a Forgotten Hero, a biography of General Jack Seely that told a more rounded story than either of Seeley’s autobiographies, which bore such titles as Adventure and Fear And Be Slain. The old general had many qualities but modesty was not apparently among them and Scott sought to provide a more objective view.

But when he came to tell the tale of Warrior, a legend in his family, Scott soon realised that it would be a presumption to try to better the story that had been already told by the man who had shared Warrior’s life from its cradle to its grave when the horse was 33.

So he has republished General Seely’s own account of the horse, first published in 1934 as My Horse Warrior, and now in bookshops again as Warrior: The Amazing Story Of A Real War Horse, complete with the wonderful illustrations produced especially for the work by Seeley’s friend, the renowned war artist Sir Alfred Munnings.

It is hard to imagine that any horse and rider could have shared such a sustained series of adventures as did Warrior and Jack Seely.

Seely was there when the horse was born, in the spring of 1908 at Yafford on the Isle of Wight. They immediately formed a bond and six years later walked off a boat together at Le Havre as part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to France after Germany had invaded Belgium.

It would be Christmas 1918 before Warrior saw the Isle of Wight again and it seems a miracle that he survived four years of a war in which he saw action at Ypres (where he was sometimes ridden by the commander-in-chief, Sir John French), on the Somme, at Paschendaele and at Cambrai before leading the charge at Moreueil Wood during the great German spring offensive of 1918.

Of the 1 million horses sent by Britain to the Western Front, more than 900,000 did not return, and if Warrior perhaps enjoyed better stabling than most, he was certainly never spared in battle.

Twice he was buried by the bursting of big shells on soft ground, and the Canadians – Seely was now commanding the Canadian Cavalry Brigade – dubbed him “The Horse the Germans Can’t Kill”.

Seely wrote: “I have seen him, even when a shell burst within a few feet, stand still without a tremor – just turn his head and, unconcerned, look at the smoke from the burst.”

After the war, Warrior became the family hunter on the Isle of Wight, on March 30, 1922, he won that point-to-point race, ridden by “Young Jim”, the stable boy who had brought him into the world. Warrior’s sire, Straybit, had won the same race 15 years earlier.

In the spring of 1941, Warrior was ailing and Jack Seely, by now Lord Mottistone, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, bowed to the inevitable, although he stipulated that the end should be delayed until he had left. He could not bear to be there for the closing.

There is no grave. In an Epilogue to the book, Scott writes: “ … I spoke with an old man who as a farmer’s boy had seen the vet arrive and the knacker’s van come and go.” He told Scott: “You must remember that it was wartime. Everything was needed. Even Warrior.”

Warrior: The Amazing Story Of A Real War Horse by Brough Scott with a foreword by Sir Peter O’Sullevan (Racing Post Books, £14.99)

• For more book reviews and news from the sports publishing business, click here

SJA WORKING LUNCH: Baroness Grey-Thompson on the 2012 London Paralympics. Thu Nov 17: click here for booking details

• Who will you vote for as Britain’s Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year? See Ian Cole’s overview of the leading candidates by clicking here.
• Follow news of the SJA British Sports Award on Twitter with the hashtag #SJA2011
• Mo Farah’s historic claim on your votes By Randall Northam
• Mark Cavendish keeps his promise in his race of his life By Richard Williams
• England’s Ashes-winning cricket team are top of the world. By Ian Cole
• Laura Davies gets back on song with Solheim. By Patrick Kidd
• Alastair Cook’s tour helped drag England from the brink. By Ian Cole
• Chrissie Wellington is an Iron Lady who deserves your vote. By Steven Downes
• Nick Matthew, squash’s heir to Barrington. By Rod Gilmour
• Sarah Stevenson gets a big kick from taekwondo. By Trevor Baxter
• Walker Cup amateurs did a professional job. By Paul Trow
• How Greene boy from the valleys overcame hurdles. By Gary Baker
• SJA members can cast their votes by clicking here.
• The awards will be presented at our gala annual lunch in London on December 7. Don’t miss out on being there – click here for a ticket booking form, with SJA members entitled to buy two tickets at half the usual price.

“In reporting football, as in the reporting of politics or foreign news, the time comes when you have no option but to stand up for yourselves or face restrictions that make proper reporting an impossible job. The key asset the leagues hold is press access to stadiums, and that is significant” Sam Wallace‘s trenchant comment piece in The Independent on the dispute between the News Media Coalition and the football bodies.

“There’s Buckingham Palace, familiar to everybody now after the incredible scenes on April 29″ Matt Chilton, BBC’s triathlon commentator in tour guide mode on Sunday, apparently unaware that some of his audience may have been familiar with the Queen’s London residence before 2011.

Community spirit: Mario Balotelli, unhappy to be substituted by his manager Roberto Mancini

“Today was a footballing lesson. Great win for the champions. We’re the team to beat. We want to prove that” Wayne Rooney, on Twitter, after Manchester United’s 3-2 Community Shield victory over Manchester City.

“Just because you are told to jump doesn’t necessarily mean you have to. I may choose to stand perfectly still. It’s my right” Joey Barton rejects Newcastle’s decision to give him a free transfer.

“The problem I have with Twitter is that people are Twittering in an emotional state. Sportsmen are emotive people. They get in an emotional state, then put out something instantly on Twitter. It’s very damaging” Alan Pardew, Newcastle manager, caught in the middle of a spat with Barton.

“Every time Mario does something people read things into it. I think he could do his job better. He can play better. It’s important he works for the team like the other players” Roberto Mancini, Manchester City manager, after problem boy Mario Balotelli stalks off down the Wembley tunnel on being substituted.

“You would not believe the chasm that’s left when the Premier League goes away. The excitement, the tension, even just looking forward to the games. That’s not there any more” Ian Holloway, manager of relegated Blackpool, kicks off with a 1-0 win in the Championship at Hull.

Unstoppable: Manu Tuilagi on his way to scoring a try on his England debut at Twickenham

“I’ve seen a lot of different players coming through with a lot of different abilities. Manu has an aura – a Jason Robinson-esque uniqueness – to impact on a game. He’s got the power, the speed. He’s a hell of a talent” Jonny Wilkinson on Manu Tuilagi, who scored on debut in the 23-19 victory over Wales.

“I consider myself fully English as a rugby player, but you never lose that Samoan side to just come out of the line and smash people” Manu Tuilagi.

“Once we get to the World Cup there will be bigger things to worry about. They said they were going to be black and I was happy with that” Martin Johnson, England manager, on England’s all-black change strip.

“Doesn’t bother us at all. If we played in pyjamas it wouldn’t bother me” Chris Ashton, England wing.

Champion, a wonder horse: Zara Phillips on her horse of a lifetime, Toytown

“It’s like the end of an era. He was the horse of a lifetime for me. We grew up together,” Zara Phillips competes for the last time on the retiring Toytown, on whom she won the world eventing championship.

“The Serpentine…  In 1814 it was the centre of celebrations after the Battle of Trafalgar” Matt Chilton, again offering tour tips of London rather than commentating on the triathlon. We know news travelled slower in the early 19th century, but Matt might like to note that the Battle of Trafalgar was in 1805.

“I hope not. I hope I’m going to be better next year” Alistair Brownlee, winner of London’s world championship triathlon race, when asked if he thought it was his best performance.

“The greatest scoop ever landed by a football club’s media was MUTV’s jaw-dropping interview with Roy Keane in which he lambasted his team-mates and convinced Ferguson to chuck him out. It was a property that any journalist would be delighted with. To my knowledge, almost six years on, MUTV has still to broadcast it” Sam Wallace continues to make the case for newspaper coverage of football clubs, rather than handing over the field exclusively to pliant PR departments.

“It has been an incredible part of my life. To have been on that field so many times and to have experienced so many highs and lows has been amazing. The thought of not having it any more is not one I wish to consider” Jonny Wilkinson reflects on RFU ruling that could prevent his selection for England because he plays club rugby in France.

“If we go all the way in the World Cup, in theory I’ll be off to Japan two days after the final. If we win it I’ll have to learn the Japanese for ‘I’m sorry but I’m slightly the worse for wear’” James Haskell, England back row, has signed to play for Japanese club Ricoh Black Rams.

“We don’t go around talking about Gavin Henson at every moment. If he gets a chance, he gets a chance. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t get selected, like anybody else. He might get a chance next week. Maybe the following week. Maybe not” Warren Gatland, Wales coach.

“I do not want to speak about the transfer because I have done that for three years now in every press conference so I don’t think there is any need to add something” Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager, like most of us, is tired of the Cesc Fabregas transfer saga.

“Arsene is focused and determined. I see him regularly, I see a man who still has as much fire in his belly as when he started. He wants to win. People have got to remember what he has achieved. It’s easy in life to get rid of people. Then what?” David Dein, former Arsenal vice-chairman, on FiveLive’s Sportsweek, as the fans’ pre-season unrest grows.

“Nobody’s more miserable than me. I won’t be sleeping tonight and I’ll probably watch the game again when I get home. But we all have to forget about it, me more than anybody. Everybody will think it’s a hangover. We have to eradicate that – that’s my job” Sam Allardyce, manager of Championship favourites West Ham, who lost their first game at home to Cardiff.

“I’m not happy in Manchester. I don’t like the city. With the boss and the rest of the team I’m okay, but the city is not up to my taste. I’m looking at this experience as part of my growing up on a personal level” Mario Balotelli.

“It’s physics, pure and simple. The hurdles are 3ft 6in. My hips are slightly under the hurdles’ height; the other competitors are just above. They don’t have to jump but can step over them, so they come down more directly” Andy Turner, European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles champion.

“Dwain is an ambassador for a charity advocating people getting a second chance. He is not being given one” Siza Agha, manager of Dwain Chambers, as UK Athletics refuse to let the convicted drug cheat run in the London Grand Prix.

“My boys are inconsolable. We had that many high shots on us that didn’t get penalised and he gives that one against us when it was on the shoulder. To have your dream taken away like that is just not good enough. We deserve to be at Wembley and we’re not” Terry Matterson, Castleford coach, after losing their Challenge Cup semi-final against Leeds with an extra-time penalty.

UPCOMING SJA DATES

• Thu Aug 18: Lunch with Sir Clive Woodward, performance director of the BOA, on plans for the 2012 Olympics with just one year until the London Games. For booking details click here.
  
• Mon Sep 12: SJA Autumn Golf Day, Muswell Hill GC. Click here for more details and to book yourself in for the day.
• Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – Booking now open. For more details, click here.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

Sports editors, specialist correspondents and freelancers will be beginning to try to work out how to handle what promises to be 16 days of story-packed action, and there are now two useful online devices to help guide you across the Olympic Park, Lord’s, Greenwich Park and the other venues between the team archery, synchro swimming and the Greco-Roman wrestling.

• BBC Online launched its online scheduler yesterday. Clear and simple to follow, it provides day-by-day timings , sport-by-sport, event-by-event.
• The Telegraph has offered a similar online tool, too, which also has helpful choices between dates, sports and venues, with the facility for you to sset your own filters to find the information you need, as well as links to the newspapers regular coverage.

Just 366 days to go, you better get your personal planner out…

UPCOMING SJA DATES

• Thu Aug 18: Lunch with Sir Clive Woodward, performance director of the BOA, on plans for the 2012 Olympics with just one year until the London Games. For booking details click here.
  
• Mon Sep 12: SJA Autumn Golf Day, Muswell Hill GC. Click here for more details and to book yourself in for the day.
• Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – Booking now open. For more details, click here.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

The view of the main arena at Greenwich Park, with its spectacular backdrop

By Philip Barker

Journalists covering the Olympic modern pentathlon and equestrian events in Greenwich Park are set to file stories from the classical surroundings of the library at the National Maritime Museum, after the location was revealed as the venue press centre for 2012.

For the test events which begin next week with eventing, journalists will find themselves in the rather more modern surroundings of Devonport Park hotel and conference centre, where free wireless will be available in the media workroom.

A 2,000-seat temporary stand has been built facing towards the National Maritime Museum. This will include 120 press seats. These are not tabled and have no internet connection . Next year, the press will accommodated to the side of the venue. Photographers will be able to access a range of positions but movement between these will be limited.

Some 300 media are accredited for the three-day event which features double Olympic champion Mark Todd of New Zealand and British riders William Fox-Pitt and Pippa Funnell, where the firm going on the cross-country course, after southern England’s spring drought, may yet prove to be an issue for some horses.

Riders will perform their dressage routines on the first day in an arena specially built by the company which provided the track for Usain Bolt’s street runs in Manchester.

The 200 journalists covering the modern pentathlon World Cup the following weekend (July 9-10) could find themselves commuting from Crystal Palace to Greenwich by public transport if they wish to follow the early progress of the competition in fencing and swimming.

As the 2012 venues for fencing and swimming have not been finished, these events are being held at Crystal Palace, but no workroom will be provided at this venue. Although journalists can attend, no media transport will be provided between venues and the prospect of making their way across south-east London by train and bus at the weekend may discourage them.

Finishing touches being put to one of the obstacles on the cross-country course in Greenwich Park

As the Transport for London journey planner page for midday on July 9 shows, there is engineering works planned throughout the weekend. However, with Overground line from Crystal Palace – what used to be called the East London Line – and a bus connection, the journey to Greenwich should theoretically take less than 50min. If anyone is so bold as to try this next weekend, we’d be delighted to hear your experience of the journey, and how long it really takes.

At Greenwich , after their show-jumping phase in the equestrian arena, the competitors will use laser pistols in the run-shoot combined event which brings their competition to a climax.

They’ll actually shoot towards the crowd. Boards will display the target to the shooter, and are transparent from the spectators’ point of view.

The view of the run phase should be unemcumbered by obstacles from the show-jumping phase, which are to be removed before the final race for the medals.

Spectator tickets are at a premium even here. Local residents had priority and the local council claim both events were 10 times oversubscribed within hours.

The accreditation centre for both these events is just inside the Queen Mary’s Gate entrance to Greenwich Park and journalists should bring photographic identification which matches their accreditation application.

UPCOMING SJA DATES

• Thu July 14: SJA Sporting lunch with Charles van Commenee, head coach of UK Athletics, one year ahead of the London Olympics. For booking details click here.
  
• Mon Sep 12: SJA Autumn Golf Day, Muswell Hill GC. Click here for more details and to book yourself in for the day.
• Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – Booking now open. For more details, click here.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

You’ll already have a passion for and a good knowledge of horses, but you will also be keen and curious to learn more. Awareness of the wider horse industry is also an asset, as is a can-do attitude and the ability to make things happen under pressure of tight deadlines and write clear, accurate copy. You’ll need to be an accomplished rider, preferably a horse owner too.

The successful applicant can expect to be sent around the UK and beyond to write about horses, cover events, work with celebrities, manage photoshoots and chase newsworthy stories. You’ll also be expected to help with testing gear.

Applications are welcomed from experienced journalists who can demonstrate to us that they have the potential to become a full-time equine writer.

The job is full-time and based in our Peterborough office.

If you’re interested, please send us your CV and a covering letter, explaining why you’re right for this job plus 500 words in the style of Your Horse magazine, telling us about your life with horses.

Closing date: July 8

Apply to: angela.reynolds@bauermedia.co.uk

For other recent sports journalism job news, click here

UPCOMING SJA DATES

• Nominate an SJA member to carry the torch on 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. Click here for details. Deadline June 27
• Thu July 14: SJA Sporting lunch with Charles van Commenee, head coach of UK Athletics, one year ahead of the London Olympics. For booking details click here.
  
• Mon Sep 12: SJA Autumn Golf Day, Muswell Hill GC. Click here for more details and to book yourself in for the day.
• Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – Booking now open. For more details, click here.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

Horse & Hound breaks many of the biggest news stories in the equestrian world and is a “must read” for riders and horse lovers for the way it reports, examines and analyses events, issues, trends and amusements within the horse world with speed, rigour and balance.

The successful candidate will be an experienced news journalist who is fearless yet tactful, fast yet thorough, and completely up to date with libel law and best news-writing practice for both print and digital media. Equestrian knowledge and a bulging contact book are indispensable. You will also be a confident ambassador and representative for the Horse & Hound brand in the broader equestrian world.

This is a full time position based in central London.

Requirements
• news writing and editing experience across print and digital media
• knowledge of best practice web writing and SEO
• in depth equestrian knowledge
• ability to manage staff and run a busy department
• great organisational skills
• Ability to think strategically

To apply for this position, click here.

For other recent sports journalism job news, click here

UPCOMING SJA DATES
Tue Apr 5: SJA Olympic Question Time. Click here to find out more

Wed Apr 13: SJA 2011 Annual Meeting, at offices of UK Sport, Russell Square. Strictly SJA members only.

Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – note the date in your diary now.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

The new look, recently re-launched Your Horse is all about helping readers to keep their horses healthy and happy and improve their riding and training skills. This is your chance to play a major part in the development of an iconic title and become immersed in the world of horses and everything to do with them.

This is a re-advertisement and previous applicants need not apply.

This is a senior role and we’re after an experienced, hard-working journalist who will be able to work well within Your Horse’s small team.

You will need to…
• Possess the experience to play a major part in planning and running the magazine, website and Your Horse Live and be able to work on your own initiative as well as help manage the editorial team when needed
• Have a creative mind bursting with ideas that will help, entertain and inspire our readers. You’ll also possess the tenacity to make those ideas happen
• Be able to manage and brief our freelance contributors and knock their work into shape if need be
• Be a brilliant writer and have the ability to make other people’s work sing
• Have an encyclopaedic knowledge of and a raging passion for horses
• Be an experienced horse person, preferably owning or loaning at least one horse
To apply, we’d like you to submit your CV, five feature ideas that could work in the new-look Your Horse, plus a 300-word critique of the April 2011 issue.

Send your applications to Angela Reynolds, Bauer Media Lynchwood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA or email angela.reynolds@bauermedia.co.uk
Closing date: 6 April 2011.

For other recent sports journalism job vacancies, click here

UPCOMING SJA DATES
Tue Apr 5: SJA Olympic Question Time. Click here to find out more

Wed Apr 13: SJA 2011 Annual Meeting, at offices of UK Sport, Russell Square. Strictly SJA members only.

Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – note the date in your diary now.

All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates

Complete control: 2010 saw William Fox-Pitt win individual silver and team gold at the World Equestrian Games

William Fox-Pitt was today named as the British Equestrian Writers’ Association’s personality of the year following an outstanding season in which he had won eventing individual silver and team gold at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

During the past 12 months, the Dorset-based Fox-Pitt had also won the Rolex Kentucky event aboard his world championship horse Cool Mountain six months earlier, as well as finishing second at Burghley and taking top honours at the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials.

The BEWA staged its annual awards lunch today at the Hilton Hotel at Olympia in London.

Among the other winners was Laura Bechtolsheimer’s triple world silver medal-winning dressage ride Mistral Hojris, who retained the Petplan Equine Trophy as BEWA horse of the year.

After winning medals at last year’s European championships, the combination landed individual Grand Prix and freestyle silver, in addition to team silver at Kentucky.

Another British success story at the World Equestrian Games – individual vaulting gold medal winner Joanne Eccles – scooped the BEWA’s Vivien Bachelor Trophy under-21 award, while Cleveland’s showjumping prospect Millie Allen, a team and individual European children’s championship medallist, took the Cynthia Muir Trophy under-18 honours.

And the Liz Dudden Trophy for services to equestrian sport was won by renowned dressage exponent Jennie Loriston-Clarke.

Click here for more on the British Equestrian Writers’ Association

Horse magazine, the monthly glossy for people who love riding and horses, is looking for a talented sub to join the team.

With a passion for punctuation, an eagle eye for double spaces and consumer magazine experience, you should be a bright, pedantic and super-organised sub with an excellent knowledge of InDesign.

You should know your poll from your fetlock, be empathetic to the needs and ambitions of amateur horse owners at all levels of ability, and be interested in what’s happening in the equestrian world in general.

In this role, you will be responsible for sub-editing, fact checking, legalling and rewriting copy as required, as well as proofreading and fitting copy on-screen.

You will be able to work in a fast-paced environment while remaining calm and cheerful and be able to juggle editorial and production responsibilities while supporting the rest of the team. A creative approach to headlines, sells and captions is also a must.

If you are interested in applying for this position, please send your CV and a covering letter to recruitment@ipcmedia.com

Closing date: Dec 16