Shaikh Nasser hails UAE riders

November 15
BAHRAIN Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa congratulated the UAE Crown Prince and Dubai Ruler and UAE Equestrian Federation president Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoom on the Emirati riders winning the Malaysian Endurance Horseride Cup held yesterday in Malaysia.

Nasser Al Marzooqi of the UAE came on top in this 120-km race, beating favourite Jack Peugeot who came second, with third position won by the UAE's Khalid Al Sha'afar.

A total of 41 riders, including Malaysian Monarch Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, took part in the race which was divided into six stages.

The remaining riders represented Argentina, Brazil, the US, Japan, Spain, France, Portugal, South Africa, the UAE and Qatar.

Mubarak opens today Pan-Arab games

Egyption State Information Service
Sunday, November 11, 2007
President Mubarak opens the Pan-Arab Games at 7:00 pm with a number of Arab Kings and Presidents as well as Arab and foreign athletes attending including the Palestinian president and the head of the International Olympics Committee.

The 11th Pan-Arab Games (11-25 Nov.) will kick off in Cairo, the Arab Sports Capital, Sunday11/11/2007, with more than 8,000 athletes from 22 Arab countries participating.

They will compete in 33 games. The event will be covered by 1500 representatives of the media.


The opening ceremony, to be held at Cairo International Stadium, will feature a song by renowned Egyptian signer Tamer Hosni, to be followed by an operetta titled "Arab history and civilization".

More than 5,000 armed forces personnel, in addition to 950 students from the physical education faculties of Zaqaziq and Melwan universities, will take part in the operetta.

The operetta's music is composed and orchestrated by Omar Khairat. Executive direction will be under the supervision of the Armed Forces Department of Morale Affairs.

Egypt participates in these games with the biggest number of athletes, 671 athletes, followed by Saudi Arabia represented by 314 athletes, then Kuwait with 239 athletes.

Furthermore, Egypt takes part in 29 games, in addition to four for the handicapped.

Endurance Coverage of the Games

From A Club To A Village

Most of the time Sakkara Country Club is a fairly quiet place where Cairenes come to get away from the city smog, let their children have riding lessons, and read or chat by the pool. The past few days it has been undergoing a major transition to become an endurnance village in the style of the UAE under the guidance of a team from Abu Dhabi. The grass paddock where mares and foals used to graze or children would be led on ponies has had pristine white trot out lanes erected for the past two weeks. The vet gates are placed next to the wooden playground with the sign warning that the equipment is only for children under twelve, but no one is taking time to sit on the swings with tents for the press and important visitors to be constructed. As the teams arrive, the sounds of drills, spray painters and hammers are wafting on the autumn breeze in place of birdcalls and horse chatter from the stables, but the work looks good to be finished in time for the Monday race.



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Many of the members' horses have been moved to neighbouring stables to afford some boxes for the visitors. The Qatar team have been here for almost two weeks on their way home from France. Interestingly, this weekend is the Egyptian International and National Horse Show at the EAO (the Egyptian government stud in Ain Shams) and the line up for the International show is said to be spectacular as many of the horses have come to Cairo en route to a big halter show in the Gulf. Cairo is filled with horses right now.

I stopped by the lonely help desk to find some young people there who were more than happy to help, but who didn't know much about the technical issues I wanted to follow..I suspect that it's going to be much more of a generic help desk. But as I spoke to them I spotted an old friend who works with the Dubai team and the informational log jam broke. He was able to confirm that the set up and the track are being supervised by an organisational team from Abu Dhabi. He was on the team that was arranging the races in 2000 when Egypt was introduced to endurance racing, and said happily that he was enjoying just competing this time. He couldn't stop to chat as he had to meet people. Everyone is hustling now.

The trail looks like a recap of the trail used in the 2000 120 km race with a long loop that comes out of the club and south to the pyramids of Dahshur and then back again. The second and third loops will also leave the club to the south and then branch to the right and then to the left respectively. The encroachment of the Giza municipal dump and the sand and gravel miners on the desert to the west of the club has eliminated any trails to the immediate west or north. The quarries provide trails in abundance but not the sort of trails that are of interest in this racing climate, and they aren't all that photogenic.

The tennis courts at the club have been taken over by an army of men with screwdrivers and paint sprayers who are erecting temporary boxes for visitors. Previously, some of the teams have stabled at farms close to the club, but this is probably a better solution. At this point, it isn't completely clear how many teams are coming. There will be Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Libya, Bahrain, possibly Jordan, and of course Egypt. I will visit the offices of the set up team at the club to try to get a list of horses and riders today. Endurance riding doesn't even ping on the news radar in Egypt so there have been virtually no public statements available.

In all the bustle of construction, the people working with the horses are on their own more relaxed schedules. All the training that can be done has been and now everyone is just seeing that the horses are calm and healthy, going for walks in the desert and taking them out to graze on the grass at the edge of the desert. Showjumpers from participating countries are joining endurance colleagues as they finish with their competitions and the talk is all horses of course. The Libyans are newcomers and finding the scene a bit daunting, but one of the Qatari riders was saying that they've been encouraging their Libyan counterparts to enjoy the competition and figure out how it all works to be ready for more in the future. The brightly painted horse truck that they used for transport will probably have to give way to air transport at some time.

The Syrian horses were supposed to come in last night and the temporary boxes should be pretty much done by this afternoon, so I expect to see more activity at the club when I check there after my daily schedule of trail rides and lessons for kids. Hopefully, I will find out who is riding for Egypt as well. At this point, I know that one of my neighbours was nominated to the team, but he was expressing some concern about the footing for the trail. The desert here is empty sand with a sprinkling of flint on top. The horses usually sink into the sand enough that the stones don't bruise but the minimum four to six inch layer of soft sand that they have to cope with does take its toll on the tendons. The "trail" is not a track, groomed or otherwise and while the organisers will try to select the best footing, there will be deep spots as well. The temperatures are looking good for riding, with projected highs of about 26 C (about 78 F), fairly low humidity and mixed sun and clouds.

Sultans Cup: Temperature and Humidity statistics

www.Malaysia-Wec.com (full size image)

Dr Balakrishna Polanaidoo, DVM, (aka. Dr. Bala) has prepared a detailed analysis of the weather which prevailed during the 2007 Sultan's Cup.

The following image is a graph of statistical weather data, including air temperature and humidity. Of interest:

lowest temperature: 22.5 C (72.5 F) at 5:45AM
highest temperature: 31.4 C (88.5 F) at 11:45AM
lowest humidity: 70% at 11:45AM
highest humidity: 100% 5:45PM - 5:45AM

USA: Amie Chenault wins 2007 Old Dominion Tripple Crown

11.13.07
Sweet Briar Stable Manager Hangs on for Endurance Riding Triple Crown
Amie Chenault, the stable manager at Sweet Briar College, and her 13-year-old Arabian, Zeek, are winners of Old Dominion Endurance Rides Inc.’s 2007 Triple Crown.

To receive the award, the same horse and rider team must compete in all three distance rides organized by Old Dominion, a Virginia-based non-profit group that promotes and supports the sport of endurance riding.

The first event, the 30-mile “No Frills” ride was held on April 14 in Front Royal. Chenault and Zeek tied for first place with a ride time of four hours.

The second ride, a 50-miler called the “Old Dominion,” was held June 9 in Fort Valley, Va. Zeek and Chenault rode to a second-place finish in seven hours and 56 minutes, winning the Best Condition Award in the process.

The final leg of the Triple Crown, the 50-mile “Fort Valley” ride, was held Oct. 27 in Fort Valley. Chenault and Zeek took first place with a ride time of six hours, 32 minutes.

“I was really shocked at how well we did at the last ride in Fort Valley because Amherst and the surrounding counties had a few cases of Potomac horse fever this summer,” Chenault said. “Zeek tested positive [for it] in July."

Chenault said she was one of the lucky ones who caught the signs of the disease in time.

“Zeek was treated and, as you can tell, he has fully recovered,” she said.

Chenault said she is grateful for her family and friends’ support, as well as her pit crews at home and on the road. Zeek’s home pit crew includes veterinarians Martha Moses and Anne Bonda and farrier Becky Vail. Chenault’s aunt Melissa Carter and her family and her friend Ellen Eagle supported them on the road.

“Without a great pit crew this would not have been possible,” Chenault said.

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Trial Event for the 2008 FEI World Senior Endurance Championship

FEI Press News
November 14
First-place horse and rider, Naser Marzouqi (UAE) riding Hafiza du Mas (photo: Cidinha Franzao)
Heavy tropical storms and torrential rain greeted the 38 horse and rider combinations who set out on the first phase of the FEI CEI 3* Trial event at Terengganu, East Malaysia at 4.30 pm on the afternoon of 10 November 2007.

Eighteen combinations from around the world joined by 20 locally based combinations took part in the trial event to assess the weather conditions and facilities planned for the 2008 FEI World Senior Endurance Championships.

This second trial event was part of the two-year-preparations being undertaken by the organising company YDSM and the Malaysian Equestrian Federation.

The event, The Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge 2007, needed to meet the minimum criteria for overseas combinations (40% completion rate within 16 hours ride time) imposed by the FEI to asses the safety and ability of horses to successfully compete in the climate of Terengganu State.

The tropical storm and heavy rains in fact produced cool, near ideal conditions - albeit very wet, which brought about a completion rate of 66% for the overseas combinations who had arrived some three weeks earlier into the extensive quarantine facilities purpose built for the event by the OC.

These facilities are part of a newly constructed International Endurance Centre which includes full equine hospital, central vet gate, full conference and hospitality buildings together with extensive catering outlets.

Some six nations from South America, North America, Europe, The Middle East and Asia were hosted by the organisers. These nations were also joined by riders from the UAE and Malaysian based South Africa and Australian riders. Unfortunately though, no Australian based combinations that had been invited by the organisers were able to compete. They had been prevented from traveling because of the recent equine travel restrictions imposed in Australia.

First to cross the finish line at just after 8.00 am the following morning was Naser Marzouqi from the UAE riding Hafiza Du Mas with a total ride time of 10 hours 31 minutes giving an average speed of 14.86 kph. Jack Begaud from France with Idais Tohiba was second with a speed of 14.82 kph. UAE rider Khalid Al Shafar on Supreme Dream took third place by a short head in an exciting racing finish for the line just ahead of Maria Vitoria Liberal Lins on Filoteu Rach from Brazil, both riding at 14.69 kph.

The first 16 combinations all successfully completed the 160 kms achieving the present minimum FEI Championship qualifying speed of 12 kph.

Full result details can be found on the following link http://www.malaysia-wec.com/sc_results.html

Full information can be found on the official website for the event on the following link http://www.malaysia-wec.com/sultanscup.html

The final ride detail showed that of the 18 overseas combinations that started the ride, 66% achieved completion and were joined by over 50% of the locally based horses and riders. 8 horses were presented for the Best Condition Award later that morning.

Whilst everyone taking part in the trial event accepted that the cool wet weather had greatly assisted in the high performances achieved, there was praise from the teams for the dedication and commitment from the Malaysian organisers.

Ian Williams, the FEI Director for Endurance who attended the event commented, “The trial run has fully met the criteria imposed by the FEI and the facilities present at the venue were of the highest standard. The weather was extremely kind so no one must forget what the temperature and humidity can be like and to think that it is easy to complete 160kms in tropical conditions. However those who have been successful at this trial event have shown that with the right degree of experience and care, and with assistance from the cooler weather, it is possible to compete safely in Terengganu.”

Pan Arab Endurance

"The UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation has nominated the following
UAE riders for the 120-km endurance ride to be held as part of the
11th Pan Arab Games on November 19, 2007, at Saqarah Club Endurance
Village, Cairo, Egypt.

The riders include Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Sultan bin
Sulayem, Mubarak Khalifa Al Shafya, Mohammed Ahmad Ali Al Subose,
Majed Mohammed Salman Al Sabri and Abdullah Thani bin Huzaim.


The first four riders are included in the Team Event category.

The Pan-Arab Games are one of the most important regional multi-sport
event held in the Arab world, with the first Games being held in 1953
in Alexandria, Egypt."

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