Iran: Athletes, Actors and Robots Among Torchbearers

FinancialTribune.com - Full Article

December 17 2017

T hree Iranians are among the torchbearers of 2018 Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang, South Korea, February 9-25, 2018.

Having been lit in Olympia, Greece, on October 24, the torch traveled to Athens on October 31. It began its Korean journey on November 1, from Incheon and will end on February 9, in Pyeongchang’s Olympic Stadium, the main venue of the 2018 Olympics.

The torch will burn for 101 days in 88 Korean cities. Close to 8,005 athletes were planned to carry the torch through the 2018 km around South Korea which is hosting the winter games for the first time in the history of the country and third time in Asia. Japan has hosted the games two times in 1872 and 1998, Varzesh3 reported.

Iran’s female skier Forough Abbasi, 24, is one of the torchbearers. She is currently an alpine ski team member who has achieved several honors in several sporting fields including third place in the National Endurance horse riding, third in national rock climbing competitions and national seniors’ championship for mountain biking. Abbasi also attended the Sochi 2014 winter Olympics...

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https://financialtribune.com/articles/sports/78028/athletes-actors-and-robots-among-torchbearers

Spain: Juma’s Team imposes its law in the 64th Raid of Barcelona – Santa Susanna

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

16 December 2017
Race Report made with the assistance of Raid de Barcelona – Santa Susanna

Sant Pol de Mar, Barcelona. Thursday 7, Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December 2017. Last weekend the 64th edition of the Barcelona Raid – Santa Susanna, the oldest equestrian raid in Europe, was held in Santa Susanna, Barcelona.

Constitution Day and the historical festive atmosphere of the Raid, which closes every year the competitive season, drew a big crowd to the town centre to watch the best riders in full action.
Participants of 15 nationalities attended the events in Santa Susanna, which premiered a new organization and timing system, as well as a new GPS tracking technology so that the public could follow the horses through the different routes over the Serra del Montnegre.

On this occasion, the Raid consisted of 4 events: on Thursday the CEI1* 83km was held, and on Friday and Saturday three double-day events: the CEI2* of 2 x 76km, the CEI2*YJ of 2 x 76km and the jewel of the weekend, the CEI3* of 2 x 96km which appeared to be very hard competition from its first minutes.

María Alvarez – ESP, former world champion and member of Juma’s Team, won the CEI3* with Saphir El Fayad and was crowned in Santa Susana as the best rider of the weekend. The podium was followed by her stable mate Alejandra Dachs – ESP with Simbel Al Ain, who finished a split second behind Alvarez, and Omar Blanco – ESP with Upedro (also from Juma’s Team) completed the podium...

Read more here:
http://endurance-world.com/jumas-team-imposes-law-raid-barcelona-santa-susanna/

FEI Issues Decision in Endurance Prohibited Substance Cases

FEI.org

FEI Tribunal issues Final Decision on Prohibited Substance Cases

12 Dec 2017

The FEI Tribunal has issued its Final Decisions on Prohibited Substances cases involving seven Endurance athletes, three trainers and nine horses from three different stables competing in Endurance events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai between 26 November 2016 and 14 January 2017.

Provisional Suspensions were imposed in January following positive findings in eight of the horses of the Controlled Medications Caffeine, Theobromine, Theophylline and *Paraxanthine - which at the time of the finding was a Banned Substance - and with the ninth sample also containing Flumetasone.

Since the proceedings were opened, the FEI Equine Prohibited List has been amended in order to downgrade Paraxanthine (the main metabolite of Caffeine) to a Controlled Medication and it has also been reclassified as a *Specified Substance, effective 1 January 2018.

The Tribunal has therefore agreed to the lift the Provisional Suspensions further to a request from the FEI given the reclassification of Paraxanthine.

“The FEI accepts that the circumstances of the cases to be exceptional on the basis that the Banned Substance Paraxanthine will be considered to be only a Controlled Medication rule violation in 2018,” explained Mikael Rentsch, FEI Legal Director.

The FEI Tribunal imposed two month suspensions on the athletes and trainers from 30 January with an exceptional six month suspension for the case involving Flumetasone, with fines of 1,500 CHF and contributions of 1,000 CHF towards legal costs per individual.

Details on these cases can be found here.



Prohibited substance case under FEI anti-doping rules

The FEI has also announced an adverse analytical finding involving Prohibited Substances.

The case involves the use of Nandrolone, its metabolite 5A-Estrane-3B 17A-Diol, and Stanozolol, which are *Banned Substances under the FEI’s Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMRs):

Horse: 8 Minute (FEI ID 104BW22/UAE)
Person Responsible: Khalifa Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri (FEI ID 10093885/UAE)
Event: CH-M-YJ-E 120 - Valeggio sul Mincio (ITA) 23.09.2017

The athlete has been provisionally suspended from the date of notification (28 November 2017) until the FEI Tribunal renders a decision. The horse has been provisionally suspended for two months.

Details on this case can be found here.

New Zealand: Smith and Vixen win at Aotuhia

NZEquestrian.org.nz

PUBLISHED 06 DECEMBER 2017

A new venue and track, provided by the Kohuratahi Endurance Riding Club, had riders driving into the back blocks of Whangamomona to Aotuhia Station for the first FEI event of the season.


The riders in the CEI 1* 80km headed out at 5am for what proved to be a challenging course but all navigated the hills in the very hot conditions to make it to the end with just one horse having the misfortune to vet out lame. The winner was the highly successful combination, and current national champion, Georgia Smith and Glenmore Vixen. Starting hot on the heels of the senior riders were two JY riders (one open, one novice) who started their ride at 5,15am with Jayden Loveridge riding a careful ride on Makahiwi Phoenix to win the JY 80km.


The prize giving that followed on Saturday was a feast to behold with Robert Reid doing a fine job of supervising the cooking of a hogget on the spit.


Everyone awoke to another hot day on Sunday with the Open 80km senior riders heading out at 5am with some of those who rode on Saturday on different horses to enjoy the track again. This time it was Deirdre Bartlett riding Craig Royston Zaria who headed home the field to complete a successful weekend after the long drive from Wairarapa.


In spite of the tough track several novice horses and riders qualified in the 40km and 80km novice rides as well as some of the locals doing a 20km which they thoroughly enjoyed.


The hospitality from the Kohuratahi Club members, local residents and friends was superb as usual with riders, crew and officials all looking forward to returning next year. And many thanks must go to the owners of this lovely property who allowed endurance folk to move in and take over the excellent facilities for the weekend.



Saturday Results

CEI 1* 80km: G Smith & Glenmore Vixen 1, S Trafford & Rivergum Dark Knight 2, Pip Mutch & Mauku Bella 3, D Bartlett & Craig Royston Xmas Star

Open JY 80km: J Loveridge & Makahiwi Phoenix 1

Sunday Results:

Open senior 80km: D Bartlett & Craig Royston Zaria, Daryl Owen & Miro Bay Plenty 2, A Smith & Glenmore Tango 3, G Smith & Glenmore Style Ish 4

Intermediate senior 40km: R Reid & Kowhai Martini 1

Australia: New Endurance Horse Of The Year and Arabian Racehorse Of The Year Awards Announced

AHSA.asn.au

Prestigious New Endurance Horse Of The Year and Arabian Racehorse Of The Year Awards

The Board of Directors have recently announced two very prestigious new awards for outstanding representiative horses in both Endurance and Arabian Racing.

The inaugral presentation of these awards will take place at the Annual General Meeting to be held in Adelaide in April 2018.

Nominations for these awards will close on Friday 9th February 2018.


In order to win The Arabian Horse Society of Australia Ltd Endurance Horse Of The Year Award:

· The nominated horse must be a living Purebred Arabian, Arabian Derivative or Arabian Performance Index horse, born and resident in Australia.
· The horse must have been an outstanding representative in ARABIAN endurance, with performance that ideally would be recognised overseas and/or outside the Arabian industry.
· The horse must be a registered/recorded with the AHSA Ltd and in the current owners name.
· The current owner needs to be a financial member of the AHSA Ltd.


In order to win The Arabian Horse Society of Australia Ltd Arabian Racehorse Of The Year Award:

· The nominated horse must be a living Purebred Arabian, born and resident in Australia.
· The horse must have been an outstanding representative in ARABIAN racing, with performance that ideally would be recognised overseas and/or outside the Arabian industry.
· The horse must be a registered Arabian and in the current owners name.
· The current owner needs to be a financial member of the AHSA Ltd.


The Owner of the Endurance Horse Of The Year and the Owner of the Arabian Racehorse of The Year will receive

1. An AHSA/Aricon rug
2. Voucher to the value of $200 to be used via the AHSA.
3. Award Certificate
4. Recognition in the Arabian Horse News.


The Breeder of the Endurance Horse Of The Year and the Breeder of the Arabian Racehorse of The Year will receive

1. Voucher to the value of $200 to be used via the AHSA.
2. Award Certificate
3. Recognition in the Arabian Horse News.


Nomination Forms for both of these awards can be found here.

Australia: Lancefield’s Alison Noble is riding high

StarWeekly.com - Full Article

DECEMBER 12, 2017 1:08 AM
BY SERENA SEYFORT

Lancefield’s Alison Noble is riding high – on and off her horse.

The 13-year-old’s idea for a memory foam helmet insert that molds to the wearer’s head has been selected as a winner in the national Samsung STEM competition Make My Idea.

Alison’s idea is one of only three out of 5000 entries being developed into a 3D prototype.

The keen horse rider said her idea came from the challenge of finding a helmet to fit. She said helmets that were too tight caused headaches, but bigger helmets could fall over riders’ faces.

Alison’s mother Kim, who also rides, said they knew of people whose helmets had slipped when they fell off their horse, causing them to break their nose.

Alison spends a lot of time wearing a helmet as an endurance horse rider...

Read more here:
http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/lancefields-alison-noble-is-riding-high/

NBC Sports Group To Televise FEI World Equestrian Games In September 2018

ChronOfHorse.com - Full Article

By: Edited Press Release
Dec 11, 2017 - 5:00 PM

NBC Sports Group to Present More Than 60 Hours of Coverage Across NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. NBC Sports Group’s Coverage of the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 Will Be Streamed on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com and Olympic Channel App

NBC Sports Group has reached an agreement for exclusive multi-platform United States media rights to the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018, Sept. 11-23. The agreement includes an unprecedented amount of national equestrian sport coverage. The FEI World Equestrian Games return to the United States for the second time in eight years and will be held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC.

The FEI World Equestrian Games, one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar, is held every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle, combining eight World Championships at one event. The eight equestrian disciplines –show jumping, dressage, para-equestrian dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining—will all be contested.

An anticipated 1,000 athletes, 1,500 horses and 500,000 spectators from more than 70 countries are expected to attend. Tickets to the event have already been sold to people from all 50 U.S. states and 31 countries. The WEG is projected to be the highest-attended sporting event in the United States in 2018...

Read more here:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/nbc-sports-group-to-televise-fei-world-equestrian-games-in-september-2018