Great Britain: Young rider cleans up at endurance awards

Horseandcountry.tv - Full Article

Endurance GB celebrated what has been a great year for the sport, at an awards ceremony last week (6 December) at Daventry Court Hotel in Northampton.

Star of the evening
The highlight of the 2012 season was the bronze medal won by the British Young Rider Team at the European Young Rider Championships in Mont le Soie, Belgium. This is the first medal won by a British endurance team at any level since 2000.

All of the team were in attendance, however, the star of the evening was Abigail Chisholm, from Devon, who was announced as both the Supreme National Endurance GB Champion and the Young Rider National Champion.

Abigail rode her mother’s horse, Grey Medlar, to take the Supreme title, which is awarded to the pair with the most points in all types of rides over the endurance season.

Oldie, but goodie

The 21-year-old gelding also won the title of Best Purebred Arab, despite his mature years. And he is showing no signs of slowing down. Between 1998 and 2012 Medlar has covered an impressive 7,500km in 98 endurance rides, including the gruelling Golden Horseshoe on Exmoor and the equally tough Red Dragon in Wales...

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http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/2012/12/14/young-rider-cleans-endurance-awards

Bahrain: Riders gear up for tough race

Gulf-daily-news.com - Full Article

December 12, 2012

RIDERS lined up for the First World Military Endurance Horseride Championship, set to take place in Bahrain over the weekend, have stepped up the pace yesterday for the upcoming race, scheduled to take place on Saturday.

Representatives of 19 teams taking part were present at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir, where some riders conducted their first training session.

Teams in the fray are the UK, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Morocco and Bahrain.

Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) is organising this first-of-its-kind global gathering in co-operation with the International Military Sports Council (CISM).

Yesterday's training was witnessed by members of the Organizing Committee, being headed by Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, as well as the International Military Sports Council and teams delegations' officials.

The organising committee, meanwhile, has finalised its preparations with only three days remaining for the start of this 120km ride.

Rehearsals for the event, scheduled for tomorrow, continued yesterday at the village under the supervision of Royal Endurance Team manager Dr Khalid Ahmed Hassan. The final rehearsal to round off the preparations will take place today.

The media guests invited to attend and cover the event for their respective publications, will start arriving today. The championship has received significant attention from sports media worldwide.

More than 15 media representatives are coming to Bahrain for this purpose, including Italy's Luca Giannangeli, Eena Vanni and Giorgio Biffi, German photographer Barbara Miller, Brigitta Ernst of Germany's Dillingen, Alessandra Durazzano of Italy, Elise Wilson of Gulf News and Germany's Heidi Bernsdorff, photographer Julian Wagner.

Regional media representatives include Jordan's Munem Fakhoury, UAE's Baha Eldin Atta, Essam Al Sayed of UAE's Al Ittihad, Khaleej Times' Hisham Bader, besides Mohammed Khalifa and Mohammed Omar of Al Adiyat Magazine...

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http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=343604

Bahrain: Countdown begins

Gulf-daily-news.com - Full Article

December 09, 2012

MORE teams continued to arrive in Bahrain as the countdown began for the first-ever CISM Military World Endurance Championship, set to take place at Bahrain International Endurance Village on Saturday.

The Qatari delegation was among the first arriving in Bahrain yesterday, with other teams' representatives expected to reach the kingdom over the next two days.

Delegations started arriving last Friday with Ecuador and Brazil being among the first.

There are 19 countries from all over the world taking part, including the UK, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Uruguay.

Also in the fray are teams from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Palestine Jordan, Yemen, Morocco and hosts Bahrain.

The organising committee, headed by Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, have stepped up the pace with six days remaining for flag-off.

The committee overseeing the opening ceremony is preparing to hold the final rehearsals, being supervised by Royal Endurance Team manager Dr Khalid Ahmed Hassan.

Several performances will be staged during the opening ceremony, including shows by the Military Music Band and the Mounted Military team while a special video presentation on the originality of Arabian horses in Bahrain is also planned on the occasion.

The stables at the Endurance Village were open yesterday and some of the teams had their first training experience in Bahrain, while participants registration and accreditation were also conducted at the same venue.

On his part, Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Media and Information Centre director Tawfeeq Al Salhi had a meeting with Nabeel Bo Hazza from Bahrain Radio and TV Corporation and finalised certain issues related to the live broadcasting of the race...

Read more here:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=343371

Spain: Santa Susanna Day 2

December 9 2012

Spain's Juan Ruiz de Villa and Rev Beethoven are the winners of the 60th 2-day Santa Susanna Raid held near Barcelona, Spain, with a total ride time of 11:05.17 for the 120 kilometers. Spain's Alex Criville was second on Inguru in 11:22.16, and Spain's Maria Dulcet riding Lucero Miki was third in 11:25.53.

Twenty riders out of 55 starters completed both days.

The Santa Susanna ride is reportedly the oldest endurance ride in Europe, and one of the very few multi-day rides. It's a challenging ride with trails in the area of the Montseny mountains.

Spain: Santa Susanna Day 1

December 8 2012

Juan Ruiz de Villa riding Rev Beethoven won day 1 of the 60th annual Santa Susanna 2-day 200 km raid near Barcelona, Spain. They completed the 100 km by 18 minutes over Alex Criville and Inguru. Maria Dulcet and Lucero Miki finished in third place.

Day 2 takes place today.

Abu Dhabi: Schoolboy Al Jahouri serves up a masterclass

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Teenager upstages strong field in maiden outing to win 100km Al Wathba Cup endurance ride

Staff ReportPublished: 17:29 December 7, 2012

Abu Dhabi: Teenager Khalifa Al Khalfan Al Jahouri made a stunning debut to win the CEN 100km Al Wathba Cup endurance ride at the Emirates International Endurance Village (EIEV) in Al Wathba on Friday, upstaging a strong field of 53 riders.

The ride, which was held to support the small stables and private owners in the UAE, was attended by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Al Jahouri finished the first of five stages in third place but improved two places in the second stage before going on to win in a time of three hours, 50 minutes and 19 seconds with an average speed of 26.051km/h. He rode 12-year-old chestnut gelding Leo, who is owned by Saeed Suhail Ali Al Yabhouni.

Second place went to Abdullah Almur Saeed Bin Helwa who, with Lanamere Harrison, recorded a time of 4:06.33, while third place was bagged by Ahmad Mohammad Al Jaber on Lanamere Rondo in 4:09.13...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/other-sports/schoolboy-al-jahouri-serves-up-a-masterclass-1.1115630

Abu Dhabi: Al Kaabi wins National Day Cup endurance event

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Rider upstages European Open champion Al Jahouri for a memorable maiden victory at Al Wathba

Staff ReportPublished: 18:54 December 8, 2012

Abu Dhabi: Ali Reyad Saleh Al Kaabi rode a superb ride final loop in the 120-kilometre National Day Cup endurance ride to score a memorable maiden victory at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba.

Starting in fifth place on the final stage of the 16km loop, Al Kaabi and his mount Tacka increased their speed to 34kmph from the 27kmph they had registered over the first four stages. That effort was enough to fetch the Seih Assalam Stables’ trainer his first ever win and also helped him finish ahead of European Open champion Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri riding Lourizon Frost.

Al Kaabi was 30th after the first 33kmph, 26th after the second stage of 27kms, 15th after the third stage of 24kms and 5th after the fourth stage of 20kms.

Al Kaabi completed the 120km CEI Two-star ride in 4 hours 19 minutes and 11 seconds while Al Jahouri finished in 4:20.20...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/al-kaabi-wins-national-day-cup-endurance-event-1.1116035