US Riders Head to Pan American Endurance Championships

By Kathleen Landwehr

Lexington, KY - Three individuals will represent the U.S. at the Pan American Endurance Championship on September 26. McCamey Kimbler, Mallory Capps, and Mae Chase-Dunn have traveled to Trinidad, Uruguay with Chef d'Equipe Emmett Ross to contest the championship. The Pan American Endurance Championship has divisions for both Senior and Young Riders/Juniors, as the competitors travel 120km in an attempt to earn top honors. 

Seventeen-year-old Kimbler (Aberdeen, South Dakota) will compete in the Young Riders/Juniors division with SB Nazeem, an eight-year-old gelding owned by Haras Santa Barbara. Kimbler has had several top performances this year, beginning 2013 with a third-place finish in the CEIJY2* at the Indian Springs Endurance race. She followed this up by winning two 120km CEIYJ2* races over the weekend in early May at the Spruce Woods Provincial Park. In July, Kimbler finished fourth in the 120km race that was part of the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North. With top placings under her belt this year, she hopes to have another top performance in Ururguay. 

​Capps, a 19-year-old resident of Cumming, Georgia, will also compete in the Young Riders/Juniors division. She will partner with Alex Robaina's 12-year-old mare Serena Hab. Capps began the 2013 season with a win at FITS in the 90km race, as well as an eight-place finish the following day in the 120km race. In May, she and Serena Hab finished ninth in the CEIJY2* Costa Azul, Canelones in Uruguay. The pair aims for a similar result at the Pan American Endurance Championship. 

​As the sole U.S. competitor in the Senior division, Chase-Dunn (Riverside, California) will ride Chamalu, a 12-year-old gelding owned by Gabriel Alvarez. She has accumulated three fourth-place finishes this year at the Shine and Shine Only, Biltmore Challenge, and Almanor Hustle races.