Australia: Remarkable horse, remarkable rider have staying power

manly-daily.whereilive.com.au - Full Article

13 May 11 @ 09:27pm by Brenton Cherry

MOST people approaching 70 could be forgiven for wanting to take it easy. Not Denis White.

Instead of putting his feet up, the Ingleside resident trained like a marathon runner to compete in the Cedar Ridge 80km Endurance race at Oberon over the Easter long weekend.

And he wasn’t just there for a scenic ride. On Jasali Shataan he beat a field of 86 other riders in a time of 4 hours, 51 min 22 sec - more than 40 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

It was his first endurance event in six years...

Read more here:
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/remarkable-horse-remarkable-rider-have-staying-power/

Belgium: Mont Le Soie to organize the Young Riders Championship

Endurance-belgium.com

May 11 2011

It is a news for Belgium, but also for the neighbouring countries. The FEI has disclosed to information that Mont Le Soie finally got the right to organize the next European Championship for Young Riders. The event will take place on 8th of September. "The route is already well-known, but we will try too make it even better" commented Pierre Arnould, the organizer and also Belgian Chef d'Equipe. "We have the venue and the good infrastructures; we will rely on all Belgian forces willing to work for the sake ofg endurance" said the Belgian Coach.

2012 World Endurance Championships allocation

May 10, 1011

The FEI Bureau has allocated the 2012 World Endurance Championship for Seniors to Euston Park (GBR), August. (exact dates TBC).

In addition, the FEI Bureau allocated the 2012 FEI European Endurance Championships for Young Riders and Juniors, to Mont-le-Soie (BEL), 8 September

FEI Press Release: http://www.fei.org/media/press-releases/elections-and-allocation-fei-championships-and-finals

Great Britain: Report from World Class Start and Potential Squad – Mont le Soie Trip 30th April and 1st May

Endurancegb.co.uk - Full Story

4th May 2011

Full report from Andrea Baker – Chef d’equipe of the World Class Start and Potential squad.

Squad : Fiona Griffiths – Dear Kate, Annie Ings – Alpha, Sue Higgins – Aberllywds Another Rose, Lindsey Comben – Radhwan, Andrea Champ – Druimghiga Luxor, Claire Bruce – Ah Dhiba, Sue Rich – Czako , Louise Rich – Cziko, Lesley-Ann Parker – Velvet Echo

Along with Rachel Atkinson – Vanash

The trip began at the Dover Lairage stables on Tuesday 26th April. All horses arrived and squad members introduced to each other. This was the first time that a multi-squad trip had been arranged to a European Ride. A challenge, since we had riders out on Saturday and Sunday in the FEI classes - but nothing the squad management where not prepared for!

We headed off on the early morning ferry from Dover to Calais, and our three squad lorries made the drive to Southern Belgium arriving in the beautiful Ardennes Forest region at 5pm.

The venue at Mont le Soie is wonderful and has everything you need on site. The ride hosts once again provided us with super permanent stables, shavings beds and as much lovely hay as the horses could eat. During the day, horses where able to be corralled for most of the day.

Thursday and Friday where spend with the horses in the mornings, vet inspections, trot-ups and ridden exercise out on the course. The afternoons spent driving the course and following the extensive crew ‘road book’ instructions provided by the organisers to locate the assistance points.

On Friday, our 160k class entry - Rachel Atkinson with Vanash, vetted fit to start the ride. All riders attended the ride brief at 5pm since this would be the same for the Saturday and Sunday Classes.

On Saturday morning, Rachel rode out at 6am. The start was delayed for 15mins due to a horse unseating its rider, then galloping off into the forest alone! Not how you want to start a ride! The horse was found shortly after the other competitors started and under the 15min start rule, the rider re-mounted and re-joined the competition. That shows true spirit!

Various squad riders and crews supported Rachel throughout the ride, all day long. The MT where waiting at each vet gate and Vet, Farrier and Physio – worked alongside Rachel’s crew of Husband – Andrew and Daughter Kate.

Rachel rode the ride to plan and achieved 6th place in the 160k 3* Belgian Championship class. There where quite a few horse here from other European nations, using this as a test for the forthcoming Europeans at Florac later this year.

After our Saturday success – we set our 9 riders and horses off in the 120k 2* class on Sunday morning. Riders from France, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands joined them. The class consisted of four loops and three vet gates. There was a compulsory re-check with the vets at the third.

The speed of the first loop was a little slower than last year, but a little too fast for a lot of our riders. The Mont le Soie ride is very hilly, forestry tracks, slippery tarmac and hardly any flat going. Mostly you are climbing back towards the venue and vet gates with the venue standing at 600mtrs.

Vet Gate 1 was very chaotic...

Read more here:
http://www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/item.asp?ItemId=2373

The VI-Andalucia Kaliber Fair Play

El Raid Blog - Gabriel Gamiz

May 10, 2011

They have already gotten the results of all tests that were conducted for anti doping during all stages of Kaliber VI-Andalucia,
ALL have been negative.

Congratulations to all riders participating in this great race, whose sportsmanship, have shown that the vast majority of Equestrian Endurance riders do not seek extra help for the competition.

This is normal in equestrian competitions, which are not to cut corners, but that training is the best aid to compete with the best results.
Link to full results :
http://es.scribd.com/doc/55093291/Result-a-Dos-Control-Antidopaje-Vi-Raid-Kaliber-Andalucia-1

II Raid Lluçanes a CEI *** 160km

El Raid Blog - Gabriel Gamiz

Saturday May 7, 2011

Final Results II Raid Lluçanes a CEI *** 160km

The second Raid of Lluçanes, a CEI *** 160 km is completed. The last phase has been good move, as Maria Alvarez came out with advantage of a minute and a half over Jaume Punti and two on Alex Luque, could not keep up and has dropped to 12'09Km / h in the latter phase going to a sixth place in the final standings.

Jaume Punti rode at 17'17Km / h in this last phase, but has been eliminated.

The winner of the test has been Alex Luque has traced the two minutes it took the head apart and running 17'59 km / h. was proclaimed winner of the CEI *** 160km.

The top three teams:

1 .- Alex Luque Moral to "Ikland" in 9h-38'-06''to 16'61Km / h and Retrieval. in 13'15.''

2 .- Silvia Yebra Altimiras in "Nerak Komando's" in 9h-55'-31''to 16'12Km / h 15'05 recovered.''

3 .- Nina Lissarraque with 'Ibn Jahia Horr "in 9h-56'-56''to 16'08Km / h and recovered in 11'-15.''

Have completed 37 pairs and 20 deleted or removed.

The final complete classification with lap times, recovery times and final standings can be found here at: Equestrian Endurance Timing Services.

Belgium: Mont Le Soie

Endurance-Belgium.com

by Leonard Liesens

We recorded 200 horses during this first-of-May week-end in Mont Le Soie. We had a bright weather, a bit chilly and windy but with clear skies most of the time. That was in the advantage of the horses even if the crew had to play with the rugs (putting on, removing, re-putting on) depending of the horse temperature and the sun playing with the clouds.

A lot of foreigners, actually a record for this 2011 edition. The ride manager is thanking all riders who did long hauls to reach Mont Le SOie, and also the Belgians, who honoured the ride. All in all, Mont Le Soie is becoming one of the endurance competitions on the international circuit.

The going was predicted as easier thanks to the rain which had fallen during the days before. But it didn't rain enough to soften the trails and the going was quite hard. As a consequence, the average speed was lower than previous years; riders had to cope with the circumstances, which is normally the case for endurance riders, isn't it? Finally the completion ratio is good, ranging from 60% to 70 % depending on the races.

On the 160, the course of events was crystal-clear. From the beginning, there was a pack of leaders setting the pace. There were the three French riderss (Begaud, Dumas, Couderc) accompanied by the Belgo-French Wendy Fallon. Elise Couderc has in fact Belgian connections as she used to live in Belgium for several years as a forestry technician where she rode Shanon from the early qualification stages. This quartet of riders was in fact a quintet until the 5th loop when Aurelie Wery was pulled for lameness of her gelding. A bit behind, the Belgian Di Geronimo, De Wasseige and Just. The Bristish lady Atkinson did also a good ride, constant in the pacing. Like the Dutch Van Wijk and the Swedish Hagman. They were probably there to look for a completion on 160km. Job done!

As far as eliminations, there was one at the first loop cause by a fall (Van Cauter, Taborah de Sier). Bienfait gave up also after she felt from her horse at the start. Lut�ce de Crouz was looking for a selection in the Belgian Team from Florac but wasn't able to pass the 4th vetgate, horse lame.

On the contrary of the 160, the 120km-ride-for-juniors has had unexpected development during the last loop. The leader Anciaux did a hard job on the 3rd loop to increase the gap with the pursuers. That has the only tactic she could handle with her mare who needed more time to recover. So she started the last loop in the lead leaving the others 11 minutes behind. But her mare collapsed during the last climb back to the venue and was passed by three horses. At the end, Emeline Piron on Alicia finished first and detached. Alicia d'Havenne is a mare coming from the EWalraid program (a incentive program financed by the Wallonian region to help the breeders from Wallonia to promote their horses). She was trained and ridden by Dominique Evrard until recently (she brought her toward two selections in the Belgian team, Assisi and Lexington).

On Sunday, there were two international FEI rides, one CEI** 120km and one CEI* 100km. At the same time there were 100 horses coming for the national tests on 20 to 80km. On the 120km, the British Team (called the "World Class Start and Potential Squad") entered the ride with 9 horses. They did quite well as six of them completed the ride and it looked like they were happy as they confirmed their participation for next year. In the lead, victory for the good French mare Sharirah du Vent ridden by Simon Bellot.

More ride reports here:
http://endurance-belgium.com/pub/montlesoie/mls2011.htm

Photos and slide show here:
http://endurance-belgium.com/photos/mls2011/index.html

Fun photos here:
http://endurance-belgium.com/pub/montlesoie/romanphotos.htm