Malaysia: Ziyad makes his mark

MST.com.my

21 September 2012

MUHAMMAD Ziyad Muhammad Hamzah earned the praise of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after Malaysia's youngest rider at the World Endurance Championships finished 37th in Euston, England recently.

Ziyad, 16, was the second-best Malaysian in the 160km ride on board his horse, Braza, in eight hours, 47 minutes and 19 seconds, the same time as the Sultan of Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin on Nafis De Brisal.

Asri Abd Aziz was Malaysia's best placed rider at 32nd in the event won by Dubai ruler and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al Maktoum.
Dr Mahathir said Ziyad's achievement was commendable, given that half of the field of 147 riders failed to finish the course.

"Malaysian athletes do not often win," said Dr Mahathir in a statement.

"Therefore we celebrate even if our athletes are placed, as for example Lee Chong Wei who came in with a silver medal in the London Olympics and Pandelela Rinong who was third in diving.

"I would like to report another achievement of a Malaysian athlete. He is Muhammad Ziyad Muhammad Hamzah who recently completed an arduous endurance ride of 160km in the World Endurance Championship held at Euston Park in Britain.

"He came in 37th in the race participated by 147 riders. Maybe it is not something to celebrate. But about half the riders did not complete the course.

"Muhammad Ziyad is the youngest rider, still in his teens. He is in the category of 52 fastest riders, and is among the top 10 of the FEI World Junior category.

"He has accordingly been selected to represent Malaysia in the 2013 World Endurance Championship in France.

"I am particularly proud as Muhammad Ziyad works with his father at my stud farm in Langkawi. The horse he rode is from the farm and is a pure bred Arab gelding."

Great Britain: Carri-Ann looks to future

Thisiswiltshire.co.uk - Full Article

By Dan Barnes
21 September 2012

LITTLE Cheverell’s Carri-Ann Dark admits plotting the long-term course of her endurance riding career won’t be an easy task after ending her time as a Young Rider on a high.

The 21-year-old helped Endurance GB win bronze at the European Young Riders Championships with her ride Vavavoom in Belgium earlier this month and says that competing exclusively in adult events from now on will be testing.

“It was really good to finish with a fantastic result and we were all really happy because we were told that it was the first medal Britain have won in endurance for about 15 years,” said Dark...

Read more here:
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/sport/9940459.EQUESTRIAN_/

Endurance riding’s national championships under way in North Carolina

The AERC National Championship is being held on the grounds of the historic Biltmore Estate.
September 20, 2012

The hilly, verdant land around the Biltmore estate in Asheville, N.C. is the setting for this year’s Adequan/American Endurance Ride Conference National Championships. Top U.S. endurance riders and their horses are competing for national titles in the 100-mile and 50-mile distances.

The 100-mile championship took place yesterday, Sept. 20, with 53 entries kicking off their ride at the pre-dawn time of 6:30 a.m.

On Saturday, Sept. 22, the 50-mile contenders will take to the course, which loops around the historic Biltmore Equestrian Center with competitors returning to a central area for the required vet checks. The hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains promise a scenic but challenging ride.

During the competition, Dr. Meg Sleeper, a competitive endurance rider and professor at the University of Pennsylvania College of Veterinary Medicine, will be conducting a study of heart rate variability (variation in the heart rhythm) in endurance horses. Riders who volunteer for the study will have their horses wear a heart rate monitor during the pre-ride vet check and after completing the ride. The study is the first of its kind on endurance horses.

On Sept. 23 and 24, the Arabian Horse Association’s Competitive Trail Ride (CTR) championship will take place on the grounds. This 70-mile competition is open only to Arabians and half-Arabians that have qualified through results at earlier regional or national CTRs. An open CTR will also be held in conjunction with this ride that will allow riders of all breeds to compete.

CTRs differ from endurance riding in that they are not a race. In endurance, the first horse-and-rider team to cross the finish line is the winner, provided the horse passes the final vet check. In CTR, competitors must finish between the minimum and maximum time, and they are judged on the horse’s manners and the rider’s horsemanship. Horses may be checked at any point on the ride (rather than at set vet checks at certain mileage as is done in endurance) and riders may be asked to demonstrate skills such as mounting, sidepassing and backing at any point along the ride. Competitors are even judged on their stabling and campsite areas.

Learn more about this year’s AERC National Championship at aercatbiltmore.com

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Read horse rider wins bronze for Great Britain in Belgium endurance contest

Photo Ben Parsons
Clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk - Full Article

Published on Wednesday 19 September 2012

Teenage equestrian Kate Atkinson is riding high after winning a bronze medal with the Great Britain team in a top European endurance event.

Kate (15) from Read, was the youngest in a four-strong team in the FEI European Young Rider Endurance Championships at Mont le Soie, in Belgium, where 19 national teams were competing on a super-tough 120-km Ardennes mountain route. It was Britain’s first junior medal win in the competition in 15 years.

Kate’s determined performance, riding her 13-year-old bay Arab gelding Vanash to 23rd place overall helped the GB team to clinch bronze as one of the only three teams to have the required minimum three riders complete the course.

Team mates Carri-Ann Dark and Beth Langley, both in their last year of junior competition, came in 14th and 18th. France won gold and Italy silver...

Read more here:
http://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/read-horse-rider-wins-bronze-for-gb-in-belgium-endurance-contest-1-4937463

Great Britain: Young rider from Lyme Regis scoops top European gong

Bridportnews.co.uk - Full Article

By Rene Gerryts
19th September 2012 in Local News

A 19-YEAR-OLD A-level student from Lyme Regis has been named the best British horse rider in the European Young Rider Endurance Championships.

Dace Sainsbury passed all her exams at Woodroffe School and was the first British rider across the finish line of the 120k race, which was held in Belgium.

The British team came home with a bronze medal.

The young rider, who already has her sites set on the world championships next year, said it has been an amazing experience.

She came 12th out of a field of 63 riders on her 12-year-old Arab mare Lottie.

Dace squeezed in her training at 5.30am before school to make sure her horse was fit enough to compete at her first championships.

She said: “It was a very tight schedule and I have another youngster at home whom I am just starting through the levels and he was having to be exercised and it was a struggle...

Read more here:
http://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/localnews/9936084.Young_rider_from_Lyme_Regis_scoops_top_European_gong/

Great Britain: Dace tells the story of her FEI European Junior Endurance Championships

Midweekherald.co.uk - Full Article

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

junior European Event rider Dace Sainsbury writes: After final preparations were made ready for our trip to Belgium I could not help but check and re check that I had packed everything that I could possibly need for a week away.

Finally I felt prepared, so on Tuesday morning Samantha, James, my Mum and I set off for Dover. Apart from a slight detour that almost resulted in us being packed off into the eurotunnel, we safely reached the lairage in time for our 4pm ‘final’ vet check to ensure the horses were fit and ready for the lengthy travel to Belgium and of course the competition.

So, after all the inevitable delays in logistics we finally boarded the ferry on Wednesday morning. As it was the first time I had ever travelled Ballota on a ferry I was very nervous about the whole procedure but the team and the management assured me that there wasd nothing to worry about and she would still be in one piece on the other side. We were very lucky to have had a very smooth ferry crossing and the offloading procedure was relatively painless, within no time at all we were negotiating our way around Calais and were full steam ahead to the venue at Mont Le Soie. It has to be said that despite mydoubts about James’ capability in driving abroad he did not make a mistake the whole trip.

We arrived at Mont Le Soie at around 8pm. One more vet check for the horses, food for human and horses and then bed. The hotel was astounding and the hospitality was beyond expectations for a group of over 40 British riders, crews and management and were happoy to accomodate our late dinners and early breakfasts.

The next few days were crammed full of pre-ride exercise, vet checks, team tactics, vet checks, setting up vet gates, vet checks and generally getting to know each other and each others horses better. We had a fantastic time and the weather was beautiful, but by Friday evening, the eve of the competition, I can only speak for myself when I say my nerves were at breaking point and it took a lot of diversion tactics from my support crew to keep me smiling!

Four AM Saturday morning, the hotel was alive with riders and crews readying themselves for the day ahead...

Read more here:
http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/sport/dace_tells_the_story_of_her_fei_european_junior_endurance_championships_1_1520640

Czech Republic: Double Joy

Gulf-daily-news.com

Sunday, September 16, 2012

BAHRAIN's Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and UAE's Shaikh Hamadan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum yesterday shared honours at the FEI Open European Endurance Championships, which took place at the endurance village in Most, in the Czech Republic.

Shaikh Nasser, the Bahrain Royal Endurance team captain, completed the challenging 160-km ride in joint first position with Dubai Crown Prince Shaikh Hamdan with a total ride time of eight hours, 11 minutes and five seconds, with an average speed of 19km per hour.

They were followed by Ahmed Mohammed of the UAE, who completed the ride in 8:15:12 and with 19km per hour speed average.

Several other riders from Europe, including Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Norway and Poland, also competed in yesterday's event.

The ride featured a total of six stages, which started with 31km for the first. The second stage was over 25km, 36km for the third, 31km for the fourth, 29km for the fifth, while the sixth and final stage covered 19km.

Shaikh Nasser, the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president, led a six-member Bahrain Royal Endurance Team to a respectable finish.

Shaikh Nasser and his teammates headed into the race hoping to make up for their unfortunate finish at the FEI World Championship held in Euston, in UK last month, where most of the team members were forced to withdraw due to injuries.

Team

Spearheading the Bahrain team yesterday were Shaikh Salman bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Yaqoub Yousef, Hood Ebrahim and Salman Isa, all of whom competed in the 160km, while Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa was the only Bahraini to take part in the 120km ride.

In the 160km ride, Ahmed Mohammed of the UAE completed the first stage on top in one hour, 24 minutes and 18 seconds, ahead of second-placer Shaikh Nasser (1:31:14) and thiurd Shaikh Hamdan (1:31:17).

Abdulla Al Mirri, also of the UAE, then took over the lead after stage two in 1:06:43, with Ahmed dropping to second (1:06:43) and Shaikh Hamdan (1:13:57) stayed third, while Shaikh Nasser (1:14:26) slipped to fourth.

Al Mirri maintained sole lead after the third stage in 1:57:41, with Shaikh Nasser moving back to second place (1:50:48) amd Shaikh Hamdan (1:51:15) stayed third.

No changes occurred after the fourth stage as Al Mirri kept his lead in 1:38:31, followed by Shaikh Hamdan (1:35:02) and Saikh Nasser (1:35:45) in second and third places, respectively.

Shaikh Hamdan, son of World Championship winner Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makotum, went up to first place for the first time after the fifth and penultimate stage in 1:00:59. Not far behind was Shaikh Nasser (1:00:29) and third Ahmed Mohammed (1:00:47) third.

This was the first time that the Royal Team competes in endurance rides organised in the Czech Republic. They had taken part in rides held in Germany, the UK, Hungary, France and Poland.