Despite his young age, Harry already has a long list of his own successes with a total of 20 international wins. In addition, the winged hourglass brand announced its involvement with FEI Solidarity – which aims to promote and develop equestrian sport – by supporting the “FEI Solidarity Retraining of Racehorses in partnership with Longines”.

On 21 November 2017, at the prestigious 2017 FEI Awards Ceremony held in Montevideo, Uruguay, Irish jumping rider Harry Allen was presented the Longines Rising Star by Juan-Carlos Capelli, Vice President of Longines and Head of International Marketing. The promising young athlete also received an elegant Conquest Classic chronograph fitted with a self-winding caliber.  

Ireland’s 16-year-old jumping rider Harry Allen is following in his older brother Bertram Allen’s footsteps, making a name for himself on the international stage in show jumping. The 2017 Longines Rising Star laureate has had a hugely successful year, claiming double gold at the European Pony Championships in Kaposvár, Hungary. Despite his young age, Harry already has a long list of his own successes with a total of 20 international wins.

Longines is particularly pleased to participate in the FEI Awards Ceremony, which was set up in 2009 to acknowledge the contribution of personalities and organizations in their progress in equestrian sports – both indoor and outdoor. The Longines Rising Star rewards athletes between the ages of 14 and 21 who demonstrate outstanding sporting talent.  

More generally, the winged hourglass brand attaches great importance to encouraging youngsters to practice sports. Therefore, Longines supports young athletes through programs linked with sports and the values that it upholds, including the Longines Rising Ski Stars prize offered to the best woman athlete under the age of 21 and male athlete under 23 taking part in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, the Longines Future Ski Champions competition for athletes under 16, the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament organized for children under 13, running in parallel to the Roland-Garros tournament, and the Longines Future Racing Stars open to young jockeys at the Prix de Diane Longines.

Longines seized the opportunity of this celebration evening at the FEI Awards Ceremony to announce its involvement with FEI Solidarity by giving its support to the “FEI Solidarity Retraining of Racehorses in partnership with Longines”. The objective is to educate riders and trainers to use proper techniques in order to retrain former racehorses to perform as sport horses in the disciplines of Dressage, Jumping, Eventing and Endurance. It is thus a way to give racehorses whose career is at a halt, a second chance in countries where they would otherwise not be given this chance. The Swiss watch brand is very proud to support this project, which is perfectly in line with its long-lasting commitment to the equestrian world.  

As part of Longines’ Top partnership with the FEI, the Swiss brand is the Title Partner, Timekeeper and Watch of the three Longines FEI World Cup^TM Jumping leagues: Western European, North American and China League, including the Longines FEI World Cup^TM Jumping Final as well as the newly-named Longines FEI Nations Cup^TM Jumping series and Final. In addition to its involvement in equestrian sports, Longines’ values of Elegance, Performance and Tradition further strengthen the close links that the brand has been developing with the equestrian world for more than a century.