New Zealand: Nationals abandoned, New event carded

NZEquestrian.org.nz

28/04/2014 10:54:04 a.m.

Extreme weather forced the abandonment of the Fibre Fresh New Zealand Endurance Championships at Mayfield over Easter weekend, now plans are under way for a new event to wrap up the season for New Zealand riders.

A two-day event has been added to the calendar at Taupo over the weekend of May 10 and 11. As well as offering FEI-level 3* 160km, 2* 120km, and 1* 100km rides for both senior and junior riders, there will also be several national rides from 20km to 100km in introductory, novice and open sections.

This means that there will be no "National Championship" in New Zealand for 2014. Consideration was given to rescheduling the “Nationals” in another location, but it was felt that many members would be disadvantaged by this, given the tight time-frames involved. All entry fees received for the 2014 Nationals will be refunded.

The FEI rides at the new Taupo event will be the last opportunity of the season for High Performance Squad members to achieve the final qualifications needed for the 2014 World Equestrian Games. It is also an opportunity to qualify horses for the star levels and to begin a campaign for the next Endurance World Championships and the Junior World Championships in Chile.

A schedule will be sent out this week, with entries closing on Sunday, May 4.

The abandonment of the 2014 Nationals has meant that organisers will incur a significant financial loss, but already several riders have indicated that they wish their entry fees to be left "in the kitty" to help cover expenses. The ESNZ Endurance Board is extremely grateful to those who have chosen to help in this way.

Spanish one-two in Portugal endurance ride

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

UAE riders impress at Shaikh Mansour Festival event in Fronteira

Staff ReportPublished: 17:46 April 28, 2014

Fronteira, Portugal: Auroro Torres Villalon led a one-two finish for Spanish riders in the CEI** Atoleiros endurance ride — the highlight of the second day of the Portuguese National Endurance Championships sponsored by the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival.

Lola Gutierrez Parejo was second, while French contender Joel Marescassier took third aboard the 11-year-old chestnut mare Djitane De Leyre.

It was a first major success for Villalon, who partnered the seven-year-old chestnut gelding Nabuco, while Parejo continued her good form following a victory in the Puerto Real show in February.

UAE rider Aisha Darwish Al Romaithi showed the way in the first three loops but dropped to fifth place at the fourth vet gate, before being disqualified after an unfortunate fall.

Shathra Al Hajjaj, the most accomplished rider in the UAE team, retired after the third vet gate on veterinary grounds...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/spanish-one-two-in-portugal-endurance-ride-1.1325397

Portugal set for National Endurance show

Khaleejtimes.com - Full Article

Hisham Al Gizouli / 26 April 2014

There will also be a venue for shows of regional products, handicraft, and performances of falconry and horse animation.

All arrangements are well in place for the kickoff of the National Equestrian Endurance Championships with riders from all over the world vying for honours in the seniors and juniors categories at the border riding Centre in Fronteira, Portugal over this weekend.

The current edition of the two-day event is organised under the patronage of Shaikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, as part of the Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival which integrates the two major equine sports, flat and endurance races, under the same umbrella.

Particular reference is made to the race over 120 km, scheduled on Sunday, which is sponsored by Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Flat Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and involves four European countries (Portugal, France, Italy and Slovakia)...

Read more here:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/sport/inside_sport.asp?xfile=/data/nationsports/2014/April/nationsports_April193.xml§ion=nationsports

USA Darley Award Best Lady Photographer: Pamela Burton

April 4 2014

Photographer and journalist Pamela Burton won the 2014 HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Darley Award for "Best Lady Photographer" at the 27th Annual HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Darley Awards.

Held in Hollywood on April 4, 2014, and known as the 'Oscars of Arabian Racing', the awards honor the outstanding horses and humans in the US Arabian racing industry. Burton is known for her exceptional international photography and reporting on Arabian endurance, racing, and shows around the world on her website Horsereporter.com - "Bringing you to the world of Arabian horses."

See more on her website:
www.horsereporter.com/

Australia: New South Wales State Championships

AERA.asn.au

 DEL RIO RESORT
 VIA WISEMANS FERRY 
ON 13-15 JUNE 2014


NSWERA’s premier event, its State Championships, will this year be held as a “Curtain Raiser” ride for the Tom Quilty 50th Anniversary for 2015!  We hope to make this event the most exciting State ride to date, with large numbers expected from interstate as well as anyone who wants to qualify for next year. 
We hope that the success of 2014 will lead into the 2015 Quilty having the prestige it deserves as the culmination of 50 years of endurance in Australia and that feedback from this test event will assist us in covering areas in need of improvement.
As this is your State’s premier event and its being run by NSWERA in preparation for our showcase, we ask that you all embrace and assist where you can!



Ride Base : Del Rio is an excellent Ride Base with a multitude of great amenities and scenically located on the banks of the Hawkesbury River …so we pray for a flood free year!
We ask that you follow maps and not your GPS to get there as it is only accessible via the Webbs Creek Ferry at the bottom of Wisemans Ferry hill and down to the left.  Once off the Ferry turn left again and follow the signs to Del Rio.  If coming from the Hunter, you can come down through St Albans on the Webbs Creek side of the McDonald River and turn right just before the Ferry.  There are many hot showers and toilets available and there is a coin operated laundry available for those staying a little longer.
Base will open on Tuesday after the Long weekend, strictly not beforehand and a list things to do locally will be available on the website soon. Also available will be a list of service stations that are ‘gooseneck’ and large horse truck friendly locally together with a list of dog kennels for those that need something for their best friends as they are unable to visit Del Rio.
Cabins are now available over the weekend by calling Del Rio on (02) 4566 4330 
Sponsorship & volunteers are sought now and anyone who can help please contact
Rebecca Hogan 
bechogan@newmoonstud.com.au
Helen Lindsay
kintamaniarabs@bigpond.com
 
and you will be put on a register for regular email/phone contact.
Beautifully embroidered kersey rugs are selling out at $220 and Clubs, Studs, Zones etc. are invited to sponsor these. All first place and Best Conditioned rugs are sponsored by Mackinder Endurance and others so far are Zone One, Shahzada, Rosemont, Lachlan Endurance Riders and Kintamani Arabians. 


Teams will once again be sponsored by D-Lua Park with the winning Team of 4 receiving beautiful etched wine glasses and 4 sets of D-Lua Park Travelling boots many thanks to David Sommerville and Karen Johansen.
This year we will also have beautiful turned timber trophies with a State buckle inset as made by Mackinder Endurance for the Putty ride if anyone saw them they are spectacular.  These will be available to sponsors for $330 1st place; $220 2nd place and $110 third place in each division.



This sponsorship includes constant PA coverage over the weekend, placement of banners and an advertisement in the NSW State booklet.
Our course has been set by our wonderful team of Peter Bice, Ron Males and Gil Stephenson  and will be a combination of old Quilty tracks, Hawkesbury valley and MacDonald Valley (Shahzada) tracks.  It will be testing enough with a view to Quilty history however very achievable and scenic.  The going is mostly sandstone which is not concussive but holds its own challenges.  The course will be available on our website as seen on www.nswera.asn.au 


Entry forms: Are now available and we hope to have your nominations in by 17th May. Camp booking fees are on the rear of the form. These are to be forwarded to Helen Lindsay at PO Box 440 Cowra 2794 with your cheque or emailed to kintamaniarabs@bigpond.com as the banking details are included on the form, please put your name as the reference.
Catering: Del Rio will be supplying all catering for riders and support crews and the TQ15 committee will supply catering for all of our treasured volunteers and officials.  A cabin close to the vetting area will be set aside as a catering and rest area for such volunteers/officials and personnel will deliver to those unable to leave their posts.


NO DOGS ARE PERMITTED AT DEL RIO AS A DIRECTIVE OF THE PARK
Communications will be provided by WICEN via UHF radios and there will be a Leader Board in the communal area for those wanting to track their riders and we hope to have Strapper calls from around 5kms out.
Firewood and Horse Feed will be available to be delivered on site at your cost.
Manure stations will be a set of trailers at various intervals around the camp and bags provided on entry to park.
Rubbish is to be placed in large blue skips provided by Del Rio also at various sites.
Biosecurity: Our NSW State Championships 2014, the TQ15 Curtain Raiser, will welcome all unvaccinated and vaccinated horses. This was discussed at length at our meeting and it was felt that the threat is too minimal to fracture the current free interaction necessary to hold rides in NSW well south of any areas previously affected by the Hendra virus. This position will be reviewed in November 2014 before any decision is made on TQ15 as events unfold. It will still be highly recommended that those in 'Hendra' affected areas, vaccinate to minimise the event of a DPI lockdown.

2014 Spanish Championships

The 2014 Spanish Championship will be held 1-4 May in Girona. It is organized by the Endurance Club Hipic in Bascara.

The 120 km race will take place Friday May 2, and the 160 km will take place on Saturday May 3.

For more information, see
http://ggjineteraid.blogspot.com/2014/04/campeonato-de-espana-absoluto-de-raid.html.

Shaikh Nasser tops as Dubai Desert Triathlon makes history

20 April 2014

Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum congratulates Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa after he won the overall men’s title in the Dubai Desert Triathlon. — AFP

The event was a huge success, with the hundreds of participants and hundreds more support crews and spectators thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Nearly 400 athletes were part of history in the making on Saturday morning as they competed in the first ever Dubai Desert Triathlon at Dubai International Endurance City. The world first event brought together the triathlon disciplines of cycling and running with the traditional Emirati heritage sport of endurance horse riding with the overall men’s triathlon being won by Shaikh Nasser bin Hamed Al Khalifa of Bahrain ahead of teammate Mikel Calahorra, with Diego Bellon Santos in third.

The event, a partnership between Dubai Sports Council and Meydan and held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, was a huge success, with the hundreds of participants and hundreds more support crews and spectators thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Participants could enter as an individual triathlete completing all three disciplines, or as a team of 2 or 3 to complete the 5km desert trail run, the 25 km cycle and the 40km endurance ride, and prizes were awarded to winners in the individual, teams, cycling and running sections.

Shaikh Nasser was full of praise for the event, saying, “Today was perfect, the organization was very nice and I am very happy to have been part of this first ever desert triathlon. I am very happy with my times, I did what I expected to do, it’s been a beautiful day. I hope this event gets bigger every year.”

His teammate Mikel Calahorra was equally impressed. “Today was amazing, I only started horse riding a few months ago, When we saw this event was going to be on, Shaikh Nasser said to me ‘I am learning your sport (of triathlon), now it’s time for you to learn mine’ (horse riding) so I started riding. It’s a great mix of cultures here today and it’s been a great day.”

Third place getter Santos was thrilled to be competing in such great company. “It’s a pleasure to share the track with these guys, I have to fit my training around work, so to compete with great athletes like these two is great.”

The overall women’s triathlon was won by Maha Khalid. She was delighted with her result saying, “I enjoyed today a lot, I am a professional endurance horse rider so had to train hard on the cycling and running, but today was very good. It’s nice to bring all these cultures together, I’ll definitely be back next year.”

Second place in the women’s overall went to Ines Pintenat, with Sheelagh Pirzada in third. First place in the junior triathlon went to Atiq Hassan Ali.

Prizes were also awarded to senior and junior teams, with Al Bararri -4 taking out the junior competition and Etihad Stables 1 taking out the senior.

In the run leg the fastest female was Moroccan Champion Latifa Essarokh, ahead of Hamda Saif Alshamsi, while in the junior male section Sancho Barcia took the honours. In the senior male section Albert Robb recorded a blistering time of 14.10 for the sandy 5km desert trail. The women’s bike leg was won by Lisa Hancox, the junior male by Talal Al Balooshi and the senior male by Soufiane Haddi, just .03 of a second ahead of Ahmed Yousef Al Mansouri. But it wasn’t just the winners who enjoyed the day, with participants excited to be part of such an innovative event. One competitor, Geoff Mitchell, said: “It was brilliant to be part of this, it’s the first truly integrated multicultural event I’ve seen. It’s great to combine the Emirati culture with a triathlon and it’s so good to see so many Emiratis competing in all three disciplines. It’s a great leveler and we all love being out there competing together. Hopefully this event will carry on for many more years to come.”

Dr Ahmed Saad Al Sharif, secretary general of the Dubai Sports Council, was delighted with the event. “We are so pleased with how successful today has been, to see such a diverse range of people competing together and enjoying participating is wonderful. We are proud to have made history today and we look forward to seeing this event become one of the hallmark events on Dubai’s sporting calendar.”

Khaleej Times