Equestrians compete at Chamberlain Creek

By Jereen Anderson


The annual Chamberlain Creek 50-mile Endurance Ride out of Dunlop Camp on Hwy 20 took place Sept. 24. This equestrian event brought together horse and rider teams from Nevada, Trinity/Eureka, Novato, Potter Valley, England, Argentina and Mendocino. Twenty-six riders entered the 30-mile limited distance challenge and 46 riders went for the 50-mile event.

Being local turned out to be a good thing. The winner of the 50-mile race, for the second year in a row, was Mendocino rider Ed Anderson and his Arabian, Neekalos.

The team of Anderson and Neekalos set a new record for time last year with a finish of 4 hours and 26 minutes. Fifty-mile riders are allowed a maximum time of 12 hours to get an official completion.

This year they added a mere two minutes to that time and were awarded the coveted Best Condition Award. Using stringent criteria, best condition honors a horse out of the top ten finishers which the veterinarians decide is best suited to run for the doctor at the end of the ride.

Other locals in the top ten were Lari Shea of Mendocino on Indiana Jones coming in second, and Jeannie Pepper of Albion on North Bey, finishing seventh. Both teams received recognition by the veterinarians for their high best condition scores.

Emily Bloom from Fort Bragg was the first junior (under 16) to complete the 50-miler. Diana Dalton also finished the 50 in fine form, as did Cynthia Ariosta of Fort Bragg on Spirit. Other riders included Cathy DiVito of Potter Valley, Forrest Tancer of Sebastopol, Sky Carruthers of Argentina and Rebecca Bailey of England. Both Carruthers and Bailey are working at Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Fort Bragg at this time.


Many coastal folks worked hard in helping ride manager Marianne Gerssing put on this event. Among the volunteers were Calamity Paul, Steve Eliason, and Cynthia LeDuc of Fort Bragg, Gail and John Joseph and Dory Kwan and her daughter Ella from Albion.

"To finish is to win," is the motto of the endurance riding and anyone who has done a distance ride on a horse in all varieties of weather and terrain, soon learns the beauty and truth of these words.