ENDURANCE

 
 The long anticipated trip to Ireland for the Young Riders 120km CEI two-star event and the Al Maktoum Cup proved to be adventurous in more ways than one. On the plus side, enormous credit must go to all the young riders, not only from Bahrain, but also from France and the UK who successfully completed the ride and to those whose efforts were none the less praiseworthy for not quite making it in the face of considerable adversity, including riders from the UAE, Ireland and Australia. On the minus side the Al Maktoum two-day ride - always a popular and eagerly anticipated event - had to be cancelled and
replaced with a greatly watered down version that also had it's own problems. In the final analysis, three weeks of bad weather leading up to the event exacerbated the problems of lack of sufficient planning and infrastructure of the route itself, combined with a new location, changed from previous years, that turned out to be not really suitable for an endurance ride of this stature.

 For the young riders, the week began with a training programme intended to bring together competitors from the various nations for an exchange of knowledge and to develop the international camaraderie that has always characterised the sport of endurance. Unfortunately the French team cancelled their trip at the last minute, leaving mainly the Bahraini and British teams with some Irish supporters to join in the activities. These included an opportunity to try their hand at making horseshoes, supervised by Bahrain team farrier Stephane Perennes and a talk on the subject of what makes a winning horse and rider from top world international, Meg Wade.

 Sunday afternoon saw the initial vetting and all six Bahraini entries safely through to the start: H.E. Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa riding Jasir, fresh from his good result in Ripoll; H.E. Shaikh Khalid riding Aloha Shiralee who looked to be a firm favourite on really good form; Manal Fakhrawi riding Bahrain's Dubai World Cup graduate, Tawmarsh Tamarisk; Salem Otaibi on the impressively improving Bahraini, Obeyaan Al Muheeb; Mohammed Abdulaziz on the French bred Ainhoa Alzao, gifted from Qatar; and Sa'ad Al Yami, tackling a ride in excess of 60km for the first time, on the new acquisition from France, Deborah De L'Hiau.

 Worries about the course which had surfaced in the previous few days had led to team trainer Marcy Pavord, along with Shaikh Nasser and Shaikh Khalid riding a 20km pleasure ride which was being run over part of the route on the previous day. This ground, which would form the last loop of the 120km ride included open, boggy and trackless moorland, a river crossing, a short descent cut through forestry with standing tree stumps and other tricky or treacherous going. The idea that this might have to be ridden after dark became reality when it was made clear that the proposed start time in the morning would not be until 8.30 a.m. at the earliest.

 Eventually, the senior Rambo Cup ride started at 8.30 and the young riders not until 8.45. As the riders settled into their task, Shaikh Nasser, Shaikh Khalid and Manal formed part of the leading group, with the others in touch not far behind. When Shaikh Majhid Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, who had been riding with Shaikh Nasser's group was eliminated along with others at the second vetgate, while the rest slowed their pace, the lead was taken up by Nicolas Vasquez, 17 years old and the current French junior champion, a lightweight rider partnering his mother's mount Najib de Bernoud. Shaikh Nasser and Manal maintained their steady rhythm, with qualification for the World Championships their aim, rather than winning this particular competition.

 Unfortunately for Shaikh Khalid, Aloha Shiralee's early favouritism disappeared when the mare lost a shoe in the soft going and was delayed. He pushed on and recovered the lost ground but a second lost shoe and a second attempt to regain touch with the leaders took too much out of this talented little mare and she was finally retired on the last loop.

 Meanwhile, further back in the field, confusion reigned. The three remaining Bahraini riders, along with some others, had lost their way due to a local farmer removing route markers and blocking the way with a tractor! Casting around for the correct route, the youngsters picked up markers going back over the hill in the wrong direction. With nothing to show the correct way, the three riders and Layla Al Redha from the UAE covered approximately 15 additional kilometres, before regaining the proper course. Representations to the ground jury, since the error was through no fault of the competitors, produced a compromise allowing them to continue and complete the distance over a shortened course, taking into account the extra distance already covered. At this point worries were growing over the prospect of this extremely tough and testing route - as it had proved to be all day - having to be completed in the dark by all but the earliest comers.

 As darkness finally fell, Shaikh Nasser, after a brief time of missing his way in the forestry, completed the course in second place with Jasir, with Manal and Tamarisk in third place, a really tremendous achievement over a course that made 120km look more difficult than many longer rides. Mohammed Abdulaziz's efforts came to an end when Ainhoa Alzao tired coming into the final vetgate, after nearly 100km of hard work, and was retired. Sa'ad Al Yami doggedly set out on the final loop with Salem Otaibi but the pair became separated, Salem going ahead with two British riders, Anna Williams and Philip Hirst, while Sa'ad dropped back with a third British girl, Rachel Rogerson on her pony, Cariad. These two had to give the course best when an official vet stopped the tiring pony and Bahrain team officials took the decision not to have Sa'ad head up the mountain in darkness alone. A relative newcomer to the team, Sa'ad had proved his prowess in no uncertain terms, coping with totally unfamiliar European territory and hazards with considerable bravery and determination.

 This left Salem and the two British riders, tackling the boggy mountain in darkness, equipped with torches to find the way. They proceeded with Salem going ahead and using his sharp eyes to find the next marker, then calling the other two to come, when he would go on to find the next - not a system generally recognised as part of FEI endurance competition! At last the trio were met on the road by relieved crews and given an escort of car headlights to bring them home by road, cutting out the last dangerous stretch of route along the lake shore, as directed by the ride officials. They had kept their spirits up by exchanging Arabic and English words and songs and when all the horses passed the final vetting giving the British fourth and fifth and Salem sixth place, it was no more than these brave young riders and horses deserved. These were the only finishers.

 They all met up next day to exchange stories, stickers and team shirts and despite the adversities of the course, the problems and headaches endured by officials and team managers, the spirit of endurance lived on to fight another day!