Australia: Sutton rides for Australia

Mudgee.yourguide.com

BY DON MAHONEY
7/05/2009

Mudgee rider Mette Sutton has been invited to ride in the South Africa national championships in July.

Sutton was a member of the Australian support team at the world championships held in Malaysia last November.

She said yesterday that it was during the world championships that she first became aware of the possibility of Australian riders being invited to ride in South Africa.

"The president of the Australian Endurance Riders Association met with his South African counterpart in Malaysia about the possibility of some of our riders riding at the South African championships," Sutton said.

"They then called for Australian members to nominate.

"To nominate you had to be a member of the Australian Endurance squad, which is a squad for endurance riders who aspire to ride at representative level for their country.

"I received my invitation yesterday (Wednesday) and had just 24 hours to accept.

"I can tell you it didn't take me long to make the decision - this is too good an opportunity to miss."

Sutton is one of six Australians that have been invited to ride at the coming South African championships.

The South African championships are to be held at Fauresmith on July 7, 8 and 9.

"We arrive in South Africa on June 26 to give us time to meet and familiarise ourselves with our horses, which are being supplied by the host nation," she said.

"Their championships, like our Shazada, are three rides of 80 kilometres a day.

"While they are run like the Shazada, they are considered to be the equivalent of Australia's national ride - the Tom Quilty."

Sutton began her love of Endurance at age 15 and had a break to rear her young family and resumed in the sport in the year 2000.

She is now one of Australia's leading Endurance riders and was named the Mid-Western Regional Council’s sportsperson of the year during the Australia Day celebrations in January.

She won the popular Cooyal ride last year and on Sunday week will be out to defend that title.

She then will ride in the Gulgong ride on June 14 - her last ride before she leaves for Johannesburg.

Belgium: Mont Le Soie

The Mont Le Soie CEIO*** 160 km, CEIOYRJ** 120 km, CEI* 100 km, CEI** 120 km was held over May 2-3 in Vielsalm, Belgium. Muriel Guillaudeux placed first in the 160 km Senior division while Leonard Liesens won the 120 km

A CEN 80 km, 60 km, 40 km, 30 km, and 20 km were also held.

Complete results, story, and photos by Leonard Liesens and Caroll Gatelier at 2009 Mont Le Soie on Endurance.net.

Great Britain: GB's Jill selected for 82-mile Mont le Soie ride in Belgium

Thisiscornwall.co.uk

Thursday, May 07, 2009

JILL Semmens from Penzance, who is a member of the senior development squad of Endurance GB, has been selected to ride at the Mont le Soie ride in Belgium this month.

She is among five riders picked to take part in the 82 mile FEI 2* event and will partner her nine-year-old 15.1hh Anglo Arab gelding Evermore Exciting. Jill acquired her gelding as a three-year-old and has gradually qualified him up from the basic 20-mile endurance ride to compete at the longer rides under FEI rules.

"Hopefully, we will try to achieve a 100-mile ride this year but my horse is still quite young for that sort of distance," said Jill. "He was not born until the end of August and missed the spring grass as a foal so I always think of him as a year younger than his official age."

To be selected for Belgium, Jill and Evermore Exciting made the trip up to the King's Forest Endurance ride in Norfolk at the end of March where they successfully completed a 50-mile ER.

Bahrain: Al Radhi races to victory

Gulf-daily-news.com

By Rami Hulayyel, Posted on » Sunday, May 03, 2009

SALMAN Isa Al Radhi of Hawar Stables clinched victory in the 120-kilometre Endurance Horseride Championship, the end of season endurance event, which concluded at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir yesterday morning.

Riding Aqaba St Nicholas, Al Radhi completed the five-stage night race on top in a time of five hours, 24 minutes and 25 seconds and an average speed of 21.19 kms per hour.

Al Radhi put up a remarkable show in the last stage where he finished almost six minutes ahead of his main opponent Abdulla Al Khatri (5:30:22) of Al Asayel Stable who came second on Faras Kaoma.

Rounding up the podium was Rachael Almeras, the first girl contestant to complete the championship. Riding Aargyle, the Royal Endurance Team rider clocked a total ride time of 6:03:26 and an average speed of 19.81 kms per hour.

The event, which was held under the patronage of Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, started with 82 riders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain taking part.

However, 45 riders were unable to complete the race as 17 were eliminated after the first stage, 15 in the second, 11 in the third and two in the fourth stage.

Al Khatry took the lead in the 30-km first stage in one hour, 19 minutes and 33 seconds. Behind him was Jaffer Merza (1:20:51) of the Royal Endurance Team in second place and Homoud Salman Al Shammari (1:22:27) third.

Al Khatri maintained his momentum in the second stage, which was also over 30 kms, where he stayed ahead with a total ride time of 2:44:25.

Merza kept his pressure on Al Khatri by taking second position in 2:46:11 while Al Radhi moved up to third with a 2:48:43 total ride time.

In the third stage, which was over 25 kms, Al Radhi improved on his standings by taking second place with a total ride time of 3:40:44, just about 30 seconds behind leader Al Khatri while Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalid Al Khalifa of the Royal Endurance Team jumped to third in 3:45:57.

Al Radhi took over the lead from Al Khatri in the penultimate stage which was over 20 kms. Al Radhi's time was 4:33:29, just 10 seconds ahead of Al Khatri who slipped to second. Isa Hazza from Al Asayel Stable made a good leap by moving up to third in 4:33:39.

There was no stopping Al Radhi who held on to his lead in the fifth and final stage which was over 15kms to record his first win in the season.

The awarding ceremony was held right after the race and was attended by Shaikh Nasser and other Breef officials who honoured the winners. Presenting the trophies were Breef general secretary Ghalib Al Alawi, media director Tawfeeq Salehi and Breef member Fahad Al Rumaihi.

Shaikh Nasser said he was thrilled with the level of competition at the race and congratulated the winners and wished other riders success next season.

Australia: Endurance rider in a coma

Abc.net.au

Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:54pm AEST

One of Australia's top endurance horse riders is fighting for her life in the Canberra Hospital.

Meg Wade remains in a coma after falling from a horse at Easter during a competition at Tumbarumba in New South Wales.

It is not known what caused the accident during the event.

Her husband Chris Gates says the doctors are hopeful she will recover from the serious head injury.

"'We had a brief meeting with her neurological surgeon at the end of last week, and much to our surprise he was happy with her progress," he said.

"You know she still is unconscious but her conscious level is rising.

Mr Gates says the phone calls and letters of support from the international horse riding community have been wonderful.

"Everyone's in shock. This is an injury that every horse rider fears. That's why we all wear helmets."

Interview with Chris Gates

2009 Torres Del Paine: Steph Arrives!

The Lake at Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile
Photo by Bob Morris


Steph is there and ready!
Endurance.Net Coverage

UAE: Better management could reduce horse doping cases

Thenational.ae

Sarah Tregoning
April 30. 2009

ABU DHABI - Better management could reduce the risk of competition horses testing positive for banned substances, according to an Emirates Equestrian Federation (EEF) official.

Alison Abrahams, a consultant to the EEF and a Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI)-accredited showjumping and endurance judge, said that until FEI rules differentiating between medication and substances used for cynical doping were refined, rigorous care was essential in stables.

Four of the FEI's 14 ongoing doping cases involve UAE nationals.

"There must be a lot of emphasis on education and the importance of strict controls in stables," said Ms Abrahams, who in 1996 became the first woman to win an endurance race in the UAE, and who is a world governing body steward.

"A lot of people are training horses here for different disciplines and they all want to do the right thing, but unless you know what is going on in your stable to the smallest detail, there could be risks."

Horse doping, which has long cast a shadow over international equestrianism, reared its head in the UAE recently when four endurance horses failed drugs tests.

Their riders, who are identified as the "person responsible": under FEI rules, have been banned from competing in FEI-affiliated events pending tribunal hearings.

Vijay Morrthy, head of endurance riding at the Emirates Equestrian Federation, admitted the use of banned substances in UAE equestrian sport was a problem. But given the hands-off management style of most riders in the country, he seriously doubted they knowingly administered such drugs.

"The rider may have some moral responsibility, but I don’t think he knows about these things," he said. "Given the stringency of the testing, no rider or any experienced person would ever dream of doing such a thing and getting away with it.

"These things are absolutely inadvertent, and we need to make sure nothing like this happens again."

At the Beijing Olympics six showjumpers tested positive, four of them on the same day for the same pain reliever, while last week 21 polo ponies, worth an estimated Dh8.1 million, died in Florida after being administered poorly-measured supplements before a match.

While some doping incidents are attempts to enhance performance, the FEI's first vice president, Sven Holmberg, said most cases were medical infringements.

"Out of 2,800 tests per year, we only have one per cent that are positive and that includes the relatively large number of positive tests we have seen in the Middle East. Of the positive tests, 90 per cent are medical violations," Mr Holmberg said recently.

He added that the FEI was working with the World Anti-Doping Agency to clarify the issues of doping and veterinary science in the rulebook.

Ms Abrahams believes positive tests could be reduced with better understanding of how medication is metabolised and stricter controls over administration.

"There are issues with doping versus medication in every country," she said. "It's easy to see how mistakes can be made when horses are all living together and sharing the same feed, but it is essential that if one horse is medicated in a yard, that others do not inadvertently receive the same medication."

Ms Abrahams said the issue of stable management was discussed at the recent season-ending meeting of the EEF, which was held to allow everyone involved to comment on the season and issues affecting horse sport.

"The veterinarian, Dr Jim Bryant, gave a great speech on how to medicate your horse and how to be as thorough and careful as possible in the administration of medicine," she said.

"It’s very easy to lose track when horses are living together, and that’s when you can get into trouble."

stregoning@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting by Hugh Naylor