Great Britain: Maggie Maguire awarded the BEF's Medal of Honour

Endurancegb.co.uk

6th January 2009

Well-deserved international acclaim for Endurance Great Britain's Maggie Maguire who has been awarded the BEFs Medal of Honour. The Medal of Honour is primarily an award designed to recognise activities connected with international endeavour. It is awarded for outstanding services to the Federation with any one or more of its constituent sporting members.

Maggie retired from the EGB Board of Directors at the AGM in November 2008.. She had been the chairman of the International Committee for some years, providing huge support to our international teams.

Dubai: Hamdan-led team holds advantage

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

By Alaric Gomes
January 15, 2009

Dubai: Defending champion Omair Hussain Al Baloushi and last year's runner-up Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri believe a strong presence of UAE riders led by Dubai Crown Prince Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum holds a distinct advantage going into this weekend's His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Cup.

The CEI*** 160km ride to be held at the Dubai International Endurance City on Saturday, has attracted a field of some of the top endurance riders from across the globe.

And though the field includes the top three on the 2008 FEI World Rankings, Al Baloushi still believes the title will stay back in the UAE, given the home advatange.

"Every rider out there will be a threat," predicted defending champion Al Baloushi.

"There are a lot of good riders and superb horses in the ride, but the competition will be among the local riders," added last year's runner-up Al Jahouri, the trainer-cum-rider from Al Wathba Stables.

More...

Saudi Arabia: The Al Khalediah Festival Cup

On 27th January 2009, the FEI CEI *** 120 KM Prince Khaled‘s Cup Endurance Challenge 2009 will be a door opening event to the FEI World Class Endurance in the K.S.A.

In the challenge, riders will have to plot through various terrains, undulating slopes and sandy areas in the subtropical cool air in the morning and night. The Looping will be marked with flags prominently at strategic points to guide the riders for looping distance and direction. Along the trails, there will be designated water points providing drinking water and ice water for cooling at approximately every 5km. Throughout the course, riders will need to go through compulsory stops after each loop called Vet Gate, for cooling their horses, whilst ensuring the safety and welfare of their animal from the checks performed by a highly expert team of endurance veterinarians.

This is a joint adventure between the Al Khalediah Arabian Horse Festival and Intl. Endurance Equestrian Events. It will take place at Al Khalediah Farm, Tebrak, which is 90km from Riyadh on the road to Makkah (Holy place), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A). With its excellent facilities and infrastructure, the venue is set to provide excellent facilities suited to overseas and local participants, officials and visitors.

Endurance sport is still fairly young in K.S.A. and as part of the state‘s efforts to promote sports tourism, the staging of The Prince Khaled‘s Cup Endurance Challenge 2009 will help boost this sport in the Kingdom.

More information at Alkhalediah Festival

Bahrain: Breef endurance race for women

Gulf-daily-news.com

15th January 2009

THE Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) is organising the first Women's Endurance Horseride Championship on January 31 at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.

Breef general secretary Ghalib Al Alawi said the race is a CEI 2 event, over 120km and is only open to women of all ages and nationalities.

Al Alawi said registration for this championship will be open from Sunday while the last day for accepting forms is January 29.

He added that the participants must be registered at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) with their horses having an international passport.

Al Alawi said the passport is being issued by the FEI in order to allow each horse to participate in either any CEI or FEI-level events.

He thanked Breef president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa for giving his directives to organise this event for the first time this season.

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".

Mexico: February 20,21 Valley de Tlacolula, Oaxaca

Endurance Mexico website

Bahrain: Royal Victory

Gulf Daily News


By RAMI Hulayyel

SHAIKH Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum raced to victory in yesterday's 120-km endurance horseride, the second round of the Endurance Grand Prix staged at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.The UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai steered his horse Tahhan to top place in four hours, 53 minutes and 14 seconds following a fierce battle with Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa (4:53:53) and Dubai Crown Prince Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum (5:00:15) who finished second and third respectively.

Shaikh Nasser, the Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president, rode Farhoz De Paute while Shaikh Hamdan was astride Eo Fawati.

Top riders from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE competed in this challenging event.

The five-stage race started with 30 kms for each of the first two stages and was followed by a 25-km third stage. The fourth stage was over 20 kms while the fifth and concluding stage consisted of 15 kms.

Shaikh Nasser, who led the Bahraini riders, kicked off the race on a high note by finishing the first stage first in one hour, nine minutes and 43 seconds.

Having finished fourth overall in the first round held in Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Nasser completed this stage ahead of Shaikh Hamdan (1:11:16) who came second while Shaikh Mohammed (1:12:15) was third.

In the second stage, Shaikh Mohammed leapfrogged Shaikh Nasser to steal the lead in 2:25:22. Shaikh Hamdan was second in 2:25:11 while Shaikh Nasser went down to third in 2:25:22.

Shaikh Mohammed maintained his lead after the third stage which ended in his favour with a total time of 3:28:05 while Shaikh Nasser (3:29:31) moved up to second while Shaikh Hamdan (3:29:44) was third.

In the fourth stage, Shaikh Hamdan came back strongly to lead in 4:20:31, just four seconds ahead of his father Shaikh Mohammed who dropped to second while Shaikh Nasser (4:20:46) went down to third.

Shaikh Mohammed regained his lead in the fifth stage and cruised to victory.

Honoured

Joining Shaikh Nasser in this five-stage race was Breef first vice-president and Al Khaldiya Stable leader Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa and other prominent Bahraini riders.

The winners were honoured at an awarding ceremony held right after the race which was attended by His Majesty King Hamad. His Majesty, who witnessed the race, congratulated the winners and wished others success in future races.

Earlier, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and National Guard Commander Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa attended the flag-off along with His Majesty.

Yesterday's race was sponsored by Unicorn Investment Bank and telecast live on Bahrain Sports Channel.