West Grove, PA - After 25 years as a featured equestrian event on the Delaware Valley fall schedule, the Laurels at Landhope is ending its run. Led by Jamie O’Rourke, of Unionville, PA, for much of the last two decades, the event grew from its roots as a small schooling driving trial, located at Maresfield Farm in Unionville, to international recognition by the FEI and to its selection as the site of multiple USEF National Championships and international selection trials. In 2002, the event moved from Unionville to its present location, a 44-acre site at Landhope Farm in West Grove where, under his direction, it was developed into a venue specifically designed for combined driving, one of only two in the U.S. “The Laurels has hosted competitors from Holland, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia,” said O’Rourke.

O’Rourke, whose retirement was planned after the end of the 2011 event, said that the Laurels has grown to the size of a small corporation and, in its present format, needs someone who can devote much more time to it. In recent years, he has been concentrating on coaching, training coaching horses, drivers and pleasure driving horses, course designing and is currently serving as one of the Vice-Presidents of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair where he is the co-chairman of the carriage marathon and co-chairman of coaching.

There is still strong interest in continuing to host a driving event at the site on the same dates. Spearheaded by Lisa Stroud of West Grove, Pa., Lisa Singer of Chadds, Ford, Pa., and Newt Brosius of Avondale, Pa., an exploratory committee has been formed to plan a new show called the Willow Glen Combined Driving Event that will be open to preliminary, intermediate and advanced in 2013.

Stroud said, “We plan to use 2012 to make a fresh start. The new committee will use the time to plan a competitor friendly event and to try to generate the enthusiastic support that has made the Laurels at Landhope such a great success for so many years. We will hold a driving event on the same dates in 2012 but as yet we’re not sure what format it will be.”

Stroud went on to say that everyone associated with the Laurels owe O’Rourke a huge thank you for his dedication and leadership.

During its tenure, the Laurels at Landhope has donated over $260,000 to its beneficiaries: The University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center, the Large Animal Protection Society, the Brandywine Conservancy and the Cheshire Hunt Conservancy.