Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994 TAG: 9404080050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Commercialism, long staved off through the largesse of the late Marion Via, is coming to the Grand Prix of Roanoke jumper competition.
The Roanoke Valley Horse Show's co-sponsors, the Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association and the Junior League of the Roanoke Valley, have secured a $10,000 sponsorship for the 1994 Grand Prix from the Rolex watch company.
Also, the Roanoke event will join the National Grand Prix League, with winners earning points toward an additional award at the end of the season.
The Grand Prix, the focal point of the annual horse show, has never had a corporate sponsor. Via had underwritten the Grand Prix throughout its history. She died last year.
"She didn't want the commercialism," said Bill Munford, the show's manager. "We could have had a sponsor last year [the first show after Via's death], but we didn't out of respect to her."
Coincidentally, the 1993 Grand Prix of Roanoke was the first here to offer $125,000 in prize money, then the largest purse of its kind. But with Via's death and uncertainties about her estate, the purse has been reduced to $75,000.
Even so, the prize money for the June 20-26 show is the second best in the Eastern Conference, of which Roanoke now is a member, and among the most generous in the country. The Grand Prix in Bridgehampton, N.Y., also an Eastern Conference member, offers $100,000.
National Grand Prix League events are divided among the Western Conference, the Midwestern Conference and the Eastern Conference.
The prize money for the Roanoke event will come from Rolex, the Via estate and entry fees.
"We're not restricted in bringing in other sponsors besides Rolex, which we will try to do," Munford said. "We can't get a sponsorship from another watch company, though."
Part of the reason for seeking the corporate sponsorship is because it is impossible to predict year to year how much money will be coming from the Via estate, Munford said.
The reputation of the Roanoke show was the primary factor in securing the sponsorship.
"The big thing for Roanoke is the crowds that have been attracted and the fact that the show is in an indoor, air-conditioned arena," Munford said. "Not many shows during the summer are indoors.
"Another thing is that the response to the Roanoke show from the riders has been very good. They like to come here."
by CNB