Bahrain: Endurance qualifying race, schedule

Gulf Daily News

REGISTRATION has opened for the 90km Endurance Horseride Qualifying Ride scheduled for Saturday, commencing at 5am at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.

Registration opened under the directives of the Bahrain Equestrian and Endurance Federation president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

This qualifying race, which follows the Bahrain Endurance Team's impressive third-place in the World Championship in Malaysia, is a warm-up event for the new season.

Shaikh Nasser said the race would be divided into four stages, starting with 30km for the first, 25km for the second, 20km for the third and 15km for the fourth.

The Breef chief added that cash prizes would be given away to the top riders.

Improve

Shaikh Nasser also added that invitations were being sent to riders from European and Asian countries to take part in this season's races as part of a plan to improve the level of local riders.

The judges committee is led by Ghalib Al Alawi and includes Abdulsamad Al Busta, Mahdi Al Kelaiti and Ali Ghuloom.

Mahmood Abdulsahab was named official commissioner of the event and will be assisted by Fahad Al Rumaihi. Mohammed Abdulla will be the official technical commissioner.

The veterinary committee is headed by Dr Khalid Ahmed Hassan and consists of Dr mohammed Al Hammad of Saudi Arabia, Jordan's Dr Ibrahim Al Hassan, DCV Neringan of India, Dr George Pandlo of Argentina and Bahrain's Dr Ibrahim Yousif, Dr Khalid Ahmed, Dr Subah Al Kaabi.

The federation earlier announced the schedule for this year's competitions. The first main event of the season will be a 120km race on December 13.

That will be followed by the 120km Open Championship on January 10 and then the Breef Open Women's Championship on January 31 which will also be over 120km.

The next event on the Breef calendar will be a 100km and 160km races on February 7 and this will be followed by His Majesty King Hamad Championship scheduled for March.

The season's first night race will be held on April 3 and is for the Crown Prince Cup covering a total distance of 120km. It will be followed by the final event of the season - a 100km senior championship in the first week of May which will also be held at night.