WEC: FEI World Endurance Championship

FEI Press Release
05/01/2005

HE Sh Rashid Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

A record number of 185 riders from 44 nations have announced their participation at the FEI World Endurance Championship, to be held on 27 January 2005 in Dubai. The Definite Entries List will be available from the FEI website endurance section by the end of the week (section what's up).

For more information and accreditation, please contact the Organising Committee :
Emirates International Endurance Racing (EIER)
P.O. Box 50333
Level 26
Emirates Towers
Shk Zayed Road
Dubai

Tél: 0097 1 433 00 800
Fax: 0097 1 43 00 070

Sue Sidebottom: sue@emiratesendurance.com
General: info@emiratesendurance.com

[EnduranceNet Coverage]

WEC: Arrivals Begin in UAE

Mohammed to lead strong UAE challenge
Khaleej Times
9 January 2005

DUBAI - General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, will lead a formidable field of riders in the Federation Equestre Internationale World Endurance Championships to be held at the Dubai Endurance Village from January 26-29.

The event forms part of the Dubai Shopping Festival 2005 calendar of events. With a record number of horses from 41 nations participating this year, the UAE will be hosting the event for the second time. The ride, which is a sure test of strength and stamina through long and ardous terrain, is hopefully to be added as a discipline to the Olympic Games.

The horses were all due to start arriving in Dubai from yesterday allowing them time to acclimatize ahead of the competition.

The first endurance event, which was held in 1998 with participants from 37 countries, was shaped into a mega racing affair thanks to the keen initiative and directives of the late president, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who was behind the development of the sport in the country. Subsequently the event went on to be recorded as the biggest of its kind in the Guinness Book of Records.

With the championship planned to be one of the highest international standards and approved by FEI, the UAE office of Emirates International Endurance Racing (EIER), is sparing no efforts in organising this mammoth event. As all preparations are done under the supervision of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the event acts as another harbinger of world-class sports and business in the UAE.

Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum is the current holder of the World Endurance Champion title he won in 2002 in Spain.

Each participating country can enter a team of four or three in the teams competition and can also compete as individuals. The Dubai Endurance Village, the Organising Committee and the FEI now look forward to welcoming the expected 800 riders, crew members, team vets, team doctors, horse owners and officials who will participte in what is likely to be the biggest Equestrian World Championship ever.

The Dubai Shopping Festival 2005 runs between January 12 and February 12.

[EnduranceNet Coverage.]

FEI WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP - Update

FEI WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
DUBAI (UAE), 27 JANUARY

A record number of 185 riders from 44 nations have announced their
participation at the FEI World Endurance Championship, to be held on 27
January 2005 in Dubai.

The Definite Entries List will be available from the FEI website endurance
section by the end of the week (section what's up).

For more information and accreditation, please contact the Organising
Committee :
Emirates International Endurance Racing (EIER)
P.O. Box 50333
Level 26
Emirates Towers
Shk Zayed Road
Dubai

Tél: 0097 1 433 00 800
Fax: 0097 1 43 00 070

Sue Sidebottom: sue@emiratesendurance.com
General: info@emiratesendurance.com

Great Britain: Endurance Riders Strain at the Leash

It may be ?off-season? in Great Britain but for some endurance riders it?s all go in the lead up to three major championships in 2005.

[More ...]

World Endurance Championship - USA

The USEF will send 9 horse/rider combinations to Dubai:

Official WEC Squad:

Carol Giles - SAR Tiki Stranger
Beverly Gray - Regalidon aka Paladin
Becky Harris - GA Tyfe Mynte
Michele Roush, DVM - PR Tallymark
Meg Sleeper, DVM - Shyrocco Troilus
Dennis Summers - SHA Ebony Rose


Reserve list:

Carolyn Hock - GT Sando
Joyce Sousa - LV Integrity
Susan Summers - Raymond Blur

World Endurance Championship - Japanese Federation

Seiichi Hasumi - SMR FAYETTE DE CAMEO
Kanako Hayashi - DJB WERSUS
Mitsuko Masui - FAX DE SKY

Chef D'Equipe: Masafumi Tanaka

Team Vet: Manabu Kubota

New Zealand - Equestrian: Desert raiders

26.12.04
by PAUL LEWIS

There was a movie this year, Hidalgo, which told the story of a man and his horse competing in the centuries-old long-distance horse race, the Ocean of Fire, an epic contest across burning Arabian sands in 1890 with both horses and riders at risk. This was a 3000-mile survival race for a prize of riches.

Now cut to present-day Owhango, near Taumaranui, a 20-year-old farmer, Mark Tylee, and his horse Jamahl. Like Hidalgo's supposed true-life hero, Frank T. Hopkins (played by Viggo Mortensen of The Lord of the Rings fame), Tylee is an accomplished rider.

He speaks with the simplicity and sincerity of a New Zealand farmer - not unlike the "howdy all, don't hurt my horse" style of the iron-jawed Hopkins in the movie. And Tylee and Jamahl will take on the world's best as part of a New Zealand endurance riding team in a gruelling world championship in the heat of the United Arab Emirates deserts on January 27.

[More ...]