Well what can I say!
What a privilege to have
such a turn out on not only a NEW event but on such gloomy weather conditions!
Pouring rain Saturday & Monday but breaking for our ride on Sunday.
With 70+ riders showing up to our ride we were ecstatic!
Raining all day Saturday
made tracks for Sunday slippery and a challenge for some riders but everyone
went out and had a go and most came back with smiles on their faces “sigh of
relief” from organizers.
With only a few minor
hiccups in the early hours of the morning the rest of the event ran smoothly.
100k competitors headed out
in the pitch black at 3am! Off to
do a 40k loop bringing them back to base again, thanks to all the staff
involved in marking arrows no one lost their way and all made it back to camp
to be vet checked and have a rest before going out again in the sunrise to do
a different 40k track.
A lot of competitors pulled
out at 80ks completion, but a few continued on to finish the full 100k track.
Thank you to those that did as it was slippery out there and a darn tough
ride!
Hot meals were provided all
day by the Alberton West Football club (catering the event) milos, tea &
coffee were a big hit for cold riders and staff.
The Vets were very happy
with the out come of the horses, and praised our tracks for being good under
foot. Horsemanship was beyond excellent by all riders, well done!
The 20k & 40k ride
brought a huge arrangement of horses and riders from Arabs to Warmbloods,
Donkeys and Gypsy cobs, Quarter horses to Standardbreds and so many more.
It was great to have so
many new riders to try endurance, even with the wet tracks they all enjoyed
themselves and were wrapped to have a picture of themselves out on course in a
frame as completion trophies! – thanks to all the hardworking staff behind
this.
We have been asked over and
over to hold the event again and have booked ourselves in for cup weekend
2009, we hope word spreads on our ride and we get more entries next year !
We couldn’t have hoped
for more being our first event and we hope to only improve from here onwards.
Thank you to everyone who
helped out, whether it be sponsors or volunteers it takes so much involvement
from everyone and we were blessed with the amount of support you all gave, we
could not have asked for more and were overwhelmed at how much effort people
put in for no return, thank you thank you thank you.
Jenna Pinzone
Below are some written
comments by riders.
Jenny
Longstaff – Wattle Bank
“Ace venue ! Ace prizes ! All
wonderful. It was so well organized, You should be proud of yourselves!!”
Fiona
Mottram – Woorarra West
“Our first Endurance event &
brought donkeys. Made to feel very welcome. Lovely tracks & bush; cant
believe the hours you must have put in to set it all up. Affordable too.
Thanks.
Pelman
– Mt Eliza
"Great weekend. Good wet fun! Thanks for all the work putting it
on.”
Tony,
Camille, Lilly & Bec Thorneycroft – Baringhup via Maldon
"The troops did a marvelous job.
Will be hard to find a better ride. All tops, See you next year!”
Kim
Fitzpatrick – Bendigo
“Great Views, Challenging ride, Very well marked out with heaps of
water.”
Kim
& Samantha Noble – Lancefield
"Loved the ride, the 4 hour
drive was worth it. Will come back next time.”
Eaglehawk
Endurance Team – Glengary
“Great ride, beautiful country,
fantastic organization & great prizes. Well done”
Maggie
Broom – Smiths Gully
“Fabulous ride-please do it
again-ideal barefoot track-a delight to ride. Thanks”
Vanessa Smith –
Beaufort
“Great red leg – 40k. Novice rug
award was such a pleasant surprise.”
Dear
Shandal & Jenna,
Congratulations
– it was a huge undertaking at which you both excelled
I have not seen such amazing prizes at a ride before.
All
riders I spoke to raved about the marking on course. It was acknowledged as
a challenging course (more so due to unexpected rain) but fair &
beautiful. Everyone hoped that it would be a regular ride on the calendar.
Congratulations
& I commend you both on stepping up.
Jane
McLaughlin