Abu Dhabi: Endurance challenge for women

Gulfnews.com

Staff Report
Published: January 13, 2009

Abu Dhabi: The inaugural Shaikha Fatima Bint Mansour Al Nahyan Ladies Endurance Challenge, a ride exclusively featuring lady riders from the UAE and outside, will be held on Friday, January 23, at the Emirates International Endurance Village (EIEV) in Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi.

The CEN 90-kilometre ride is open not only to all lady endurance riders having a valid endurance riding license issued by the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation but also for any non-resident foreign riders nominated by their respective National Federations.

This is the first time an endurance ride exclusively featuring lady riders is being held at Al Wathba, thanks to the keen support for such events from Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister for Presidential Affairs and Chairman of EIEV.

Shaikh Mansour, who is currently competing in the Body Weight ride series, provides a substantial boost to equestrian activities in the country. In fact, he was the architect behind a long-distance horse race for persons with special needs, which was held at the EIEV in Al Wathba in February last year.

Taleb Dhaher Al Muhairi, Secretary General, UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation, stated: "Endurance riding is a reflection of our country's deep-rooted history and tradition and love for the horses. If highly successful, this will be an annual event henceforth. We thank Shaikh Mansour for supporting this event".