Canadian Endurance Rider, Katya Levermann, Finishes in Fourth in NAYRER

Photo Credit -- www.stockimageservices.com Facebook.com/equine.canada

Riding Tracy Reynolds' TEF Sunflash (CRF Jalal x Lewisfield Sunraf), a 14-year-old Arabian gelding, Katya Levermann of One Hundred Mile House, BC finished in fourth place in the NAJYRC-CH 4* FEI Championship race.

The race, 120 km in length, consisted of five loops around and just outside of the Kentucky Horse Park grounds.

After the first loop, Levermann and TEF Sunflash were in 11th place, and the pair moved up to fifth place after the second loop. Following the third loop, they slipped to sixth place. They were sitting in fifth place, 13 minutes off of third place, heading in to the last loop. With a very fresh, fit horse, Levermann strategically planned her advance. The pair quickly gained ground and completed the ride just over a minute behind the bronze medal winner.

"First and foremost I would like to thank Tracy Reynolds for lending me such a wonderful horse, Flash," said Levermann, who is attending her first NAJYRC. "I am just thrilled with his performance, and I couldn't be prouder to represent Canada. Coming in fourth was dream come true."

"Katya did an absolutely incredible job and her fourth place finish today will be a personal best," said Maura Leahy, chef d'équipe. "She worked every loop to progress, and we are absolutely thrilled with where she finished. Our whole team--Tracy Reynolds, the owner; Glenn Sinclair, the team veterinarian; Peter Levermann, Katya's father and Katelyn Reynolds, as a guest--did a huge job helping Katya and bringing her through to the finish today."

For more information and complete results for NAJYRC, please visit www.youngriders.org.

Senior Dutch endurance official steps down over WEG selections

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Jul 19, 2014

A senior endurance figure in The Netherlands has resigned from a key role over his concerns about three horses in the frame to be competed by Dutch riders at the World Equestrian Games.

Marc van den Dungen announced last Monday he was standing down as independent chairman of the Endurance Technical Commission of the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation, the KNHS.

His resignation followed the nomination of three riders for the Dutch endurance team with horses, at least two of whom are owned by interests in the United Arab Emirates.

Van den Dungen’s concerns centre around the racing workload of the horses and he accused the Dutch equestrian body of not putting horse welfare as a top priority – a claim the federation has rejected. The federation backed the selection of the horses in question, saying it was in line with recent FEI rules.

Van den Dungen said: “The reason for discontinuing my function is the fact that I do not want to be associated with an organisation which pays lip-service to horse welfare that, when it comes to success at the World Equestrian Games 2014, no longer places horse welfare at the top of its agenda.”

Read More ...

Great Britain: New qualification for Brechin rider

Brechinadvertiser.co.uk - Full Article

Brechiner John Thomson, who is an Endurance rider for Great Britain, has qualified as a sports psychologist.

The achievement follows a successful Cairngorm 100 (Blue Mountain 160) endurance test ride.

The MA (Hons) graduate, who originally studied psychology at the University of Dundee, gained a Diploma in Sports Psychology with Distinction.

Being no stranger to the stresses and strains of top level competition, John dug deep into his own experiences during the diploma course.

Endurance is a tough, challenging sport that places huge amounts of physical as well as psychological stress on it’s serious competitors and demands high levels of focus, motivation and concentration for long periods of time. He said: “Sometimes the race is played out in a five and a half square inch court – the space inside your head!...”

Read more here:
http://www.brechinadvertiser.co.uk/sport/local-sport/new-qualification-for-brechin-rider-1-3477097

USA's Kelsey Russell: The "Gonna Go Someplace Kid"

July 17 2014
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Kelsey Russell, a Young Rider, is one of the USA Endurance Team riders for the 2014 World Equestrian Games Endurance Race in France

"She's as cool and calculating as any of the senior riders," says USA Chef d'Equipe Emmett Ross of Kelsey Russell, the first Young Rider to ever make the senior World Championship USA Endurance Team. "And of course she's a chip off the old block, because she rides for Valerie Kanavy, and Valerie has been coaching her ever since she's been a kid."

Kanavy hardly needs any introduction in endurance circles, being a 2-time former World Endurance Champion in 1994 in The Netherlands, and 1998 in the United Arab Emirates. Being only 18, Russell isn't as well known yet, but that's not because she's been hiding in the stables.

"I've been on horses pretty much my whole life," Russell says. "With my aunt I do barrel racing and western riding." It wasn't till about 5 years ago that Russell boarded her horses in Kanavy's stable across the street and discovered endurance. "I started riding endurance with her the following winter, and I have been ever since."

It was obvious to Kanavy that Russell was a horsewoman from the beginning. "She was like a little monkey that hung on, no matter what. Sometimes the horses would do things, and we'd be going, 'Oh no!', but she didn't come off," Kanavy laughs.

Russell, from Williston, Florida, did her first endurance ride in January of 2010 on one of Kanavy's horses, Layla Z Gold. Since then, Russell has racked up over 1800 AERC miles, a first place finish in the 2011 North American Young Riders FEI Championships aboard Kanavy's My Wild Irish Gold, a 6th place finish aboard Kanavy's Gold Raven in the 2011 FEI Young Rider Junior World Endurance Championship in Abu Dhabi, and a 5th place finish with My Wild Irish Gold in the 2013 Young Rider Junior World Endurance Championship in Tarbes, France.

Russell will be riding My Wild Irish Gold on the USA Team in the 2014 World Equestrian Games Endurance Race in Normandy, France on August 28, 2014. "Irish" is a 10 coming 11-year-old bay Anglo-Arabian mare, owned and bred by Kanavy's Gold Medal Farms. She is Russell's favorite horse in the stable to ride. "She's comfortable; she likes to go, but she has a brain. She doesn't get stupid, and she doesn't waste her energy," Russell says.

Russell's first endurance ride on Irish was a 2nd place finish in the Goethe Challenge 75-miler in December of 2010. Since then, they've completed 10 endurance races in the USA together (including 4 wins and a Best Condition), and the 2 overseas races. Their best ride, Russell says, was the Young Rider Junior Championship in France last year where the mare covered the 120-km course in 6 1/2 hours.

Russell is not daunted at all by riding alongside experienced senior riders in such a prestigious Championship race in France. "I ride with quite a few of them and I hang out with them at the rides so I know them pretty well. It'll be different than the Young Riders, but I think it'll be fun and it'll be a really good experience," she says matter-of-factly.

Kanavy knows Russell can handle the pressure, and is delighted with her accomplishments. "I'm pretty proud of her all the way around. I'm proud of her for what she does in school and all her other activities too; it's not just about riding. She's an all-around 'Gonna Go Someplace Kid.' She has great family support, and I think where she is, and what she's accomplished, is because she's determined, and she is a dynamite worker. I'm more proud of the way she's conducted her whole life; and her good will and determination to go somewhere and be somebody, and be the best you can be - she takes that to another level."

Russell will be riding at the top level in France next month, aboard a top level mare, with a top level team, coach, family, and mentor rooting her on, and it's likely she will take it all in stride.

Correction:
Kelsey Russell is the second junior to ride as a senior team member.
Joe Mattingly rode as a 16-year-old as a US Team Member at the 1988 World Championship in Front Royal, Virginia and placed 7th overall. In 1990, at the age of 18, he was a US Team Member at the 1990 World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden at the first ever World Equestrian Games (his horse retired at 75 miles).

2014 WEG: Record number of nominated entries for Endurance

Normandy2014.com

Friday 11 July 2014 - 14h57

A record total of 49 nations have put in nominated entries* for the Endurance competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy. The list of nominated entries shows 260 riders with 348 horses for Endurance, which will be held in Sartilly (Bay of Mont St Michel) on Thursday 28 August 2014.

Thirty-four nations have three or more riders and will be bidding for team honours, while 15 countries will participate with one or two individuals. Definite entries for Endurance close on 14 August.

Laurent Cellier, Sports Director of the Normandy 2014 Organizing Committee, welcomes the high turnout, and the diversity of nations represented: "I am very pleased with the enthusiasm around Endurance this year, with a record number of nations putting in nominated entries, and more generally the excitement around the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games ™ 2014 in Normandy. We are now just six weeks away from the start of the Games, and our priority is to keep working to ensure we welcome athletes and horses in the best possible conditions."

*For the nominated entries in Endurance, each National Federation may enter a maximum of 10 Athletes and 14 Horses. For the definitive entries on August 14th, each National Federation may enter a maximum of 5 athletes and 7 horses.

Argentina Endurance Team Announced for WEG

16/07/2014

Argentina has announced their squad for the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which takes place in Normandy, France (23 August – 7 September, with the endurance competition taking place 27-28 August in Sartilly).

They are:

Chef d'Equipe Eduardo Beccar Varela
Josefina Chas with Riverwatch
Andres Cordoba with Koela de la Dour
Mercedes Tapia with Trek Rania

Josefina rode in WEGs at Jerez, Spain, in 2002, and Aachen, Germany, in 2006. This will be the first WEG for Andres, an Argentinian born in Corrientes, who lives in Italy competing there for 6 years. He qualified with 2 horses, Koela de la Dour and Maestro.

Josefina and Mercedes are the two Elite riders from Argentina, so they will be riding foreign horses. Mercedes' mare, Trek Rania, is owned by Josep Tapias from Vic, Spain, near Barcelona. Unrelated to each other, this will be the first time Mercedes and Josep will meet, at the WEG. Having first started riding horses in the year 2000, this will be Mercedes' 5th WEG, having previously ridden at Jerez, Spain, in 2002, Dubai, UAE, in 2005, in Aachen, Germany, in 2006, and Lexington, KY, USA, in 2010!

Eduardo was previously Argentina's Chef d'Equipe in Dubai and Aachen.

Canada: Katya Levermann and TEF Sunflash to represent Canada at NAJYRC

EnduranceCanada

Ottawa, ON, July 15, 2014 - Endurance Canada is very pleased to announce that Katya Levermann, from 100 Mile House, BC, will be attending the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) in the endurance competition, which will be held on Friday, July 18. Levermann is both excited and honoured to again be a member of the Canadian Team heading to Kentucky. Unfortunately, her endurance teammates have been forced to withdraw, so Levermann will be our sole representative. Her dad, Peter, will accompany her to this competition, and chef d'équipe Maura Leahy and team veterinarian Glenn Sinclair, DVM, will be there to support Levermann as well.

Levermann will be riding a leased horse, TEF Sunflash, a 14.2 hh 14-year-old Arabian gelding, bred and owned by Tracy Reynolds from Pennsylvania. There is a wonderful story behind this horse- last year Levermann actually had, as her first choice, the opportunity to take Sunflash to Kentucky. She declined, since she was also qualified on Parker AES (a Canadian-bred), which enabled a US Young Rider, Michael Bishop, to ride him instead. Bishop rode Flash to a fifth place finish and won the best conditioned award. This year it's Levermann's turn. On her 15th birthday her parents surprised her with the announcement that she was going to the NAJYRC with Flash, and she was thrilled.

The entire endurance community, from coast to coast, will be following her every stride as she canters along the 75 miles of Kentucky bluegrass pathways. Good luck!

A complete biography for this most accomplished young rider can be found here.