7th -8th February 2009

Fairlie, South Island, New Zealand

Editorial & Photos: Copyright Sandie MacLean

Arriving in Fairlie revealed just how parched and dry the normally picturesque and green countryside has become in recent weeks resulting from an unusually hot summer.  The designated ride base was the local Showgrounds which included some useful facilities and generously accommodating local people to assist with the more domestic requirements for all involved.

The Mackenzie Endurance Club, a relatively small club hosted the event and they also ran club rides of 40 and 80km on the Friday which began the weekend of Endurance, setting the scene for what was an eventful weekend.

Just prior to the start of the 80km ride two riders were unseated with one regaining composure and able to start the ride.  Not so lucky the other rider fell from a rearing horse who then landed and rolled on her which saw her sustain two broken hips and a collarbone.  Luckily she will be alright in the long term but the six weeks in hospital will be quite difficult.

Compounding environment and climatic conditions caused most of the over-time eliminations during the day despite an extension to the maximum ride times.
 
At 1am on the Saturday the CEI3* 160km event began with the riders aware of the slow times from the previous day.  The weather in comparison was a lot cooler with cloud and drizzle was forecast for the day, clearing later on in the afternoon.  Due to various contributing factors only a small field of starters set out in pursuit of the highly acclaimed 160km South Island Champion.  Of the nine starters, five completed nicely with the balance of the field vetting out lame.  The ground has become very hard and it is logical that the concussion was the main reason for the attrition rate of 45%.

Loop 1 and about half of Loop 2 were ridden in darkness with most of the field in close proximity of each other and vetting in a few minutes of arrival at the vet gate.  The 160km track was split over six loops with a maximum ride time of 16 hours, ample time in the weather conditions presented on the day. 

By the end of the first two loops, lameness had taken Kevin James (Glendaar Iraklis) and  Linda Harmon (Landon V’erah) out of the running with Jenny Rouse and the barefoot Rosewood Ardashir vetting out at the end of Loop 4.  The saddest vet out would have to have been Phillip Graham and Wolfgang Amadeus at the end of the 160km after the horse had taken a fall and subsequently vetted out lame.  This very successful combination had previously been selected for the World Endurance Championships 2008 in Malaysia.

With these combinations out it only left five horses however there was no shortage of competition with 1st and 2nd places hotly contested between friends and stable mates, Vanessa Tiffen riding Astek Laurelea and Debbie Worsfold riding Northwinds Bradley McGregor.  Both horses owned by Christine King were a real credit to her and looked fantastic throughout the whole day with keen outlooks.  They ran together the entire race and managed to out pace the grey mare Diami’d ridden by Maxine Leary in the last loop by which time the temperature had started to rise.

The crowd at the finish line were all eagerly anticipating the end of this race with much speculation and excitement as to how they would fight out the finish.  We didn’t have too long to wait and the two came up the chute neck and neck with the 8 year old mare, Astek Laurelea taking fright near the line, not to miss an opportunity Worsfold taking a leap of acceleration over the line for 1st place honours.  Everyone laughed and cheered for both riders and both King’s horses – a fitting name for the day.  It is quite something when you can own and train the first two placed horses in a 160km race.  The winning ride time was 11:10:16 The following day Astek Laurelea was awarded the highly coveted Best Conditioned Award, their ride time 11:10:17.

Third place to Leary followed several hours later by Helen Bray riding her homebred mare, Sherwood Ayshah for 4th and last but by no means least Endurance NZ’s Vice Chair, Teresa Hoult riding her lovely grey boy, SS Kaleb bred by Gerzanne Arabians.

On the same day the CEI* 100km and CEIJY* 100km events were started at 5am which meant a ride in the dark for about one hour.  There were equally as many exciting and tough moments for all involved especially after a gallop finish which determined the first over the line Larry Ross riding Blue El Jasper vetting out lame.  This saw second over the line declared the winner, which was a very ecstatic Robyn Marshall riding Stone River Reflections owned by Debby Worsfold in a riding time of 7:06:12

Just over 22 minutes later the next two horses vying for second place came galloping in, naturally with the crowd fully warmed up and very vocal.  The same result as first place happened that Kevin Brosnahan riding Malton Lydia crossed the line first between the two but was then vetted out leaving Kevin Prangley and the exotic 11 year old Arabian Stallion, WD Amir Ibn Kaliph to secure second placing in a time of 7:28:25

Another 20 minutes past and the next two riders came cantering triumphantly over the line, third place going to a past New Zealand National Champion Arabian Show Gelding, SS Shadrak ridden by Paula Humphries.  Despite being 42 minutes behind the winner of the race SS Shadrak also took out Best Conditioned.  Sadly riding with Humphries was Bronwyn Halliday (President of the Host Club) vetted out lame, as did Caroline Barber after Loop 2 riding a borrowed horse, Fire Spirit.

Running concurrently to the Seniors was the CEIJY* 100km for Junior and Youth Riders.  In a ride time of 7:28:22 Krista Officer and Sunny Brae Antonia ran a lovely ride with excellent heartrates throughout the ride.  Given this and other parameters the 7 year old pony mare won the Best Conditioned award easily.  This ride was the largest over the weekend giving a good boost to the younger sector of our sport, of the 11 riders there were 4 who had been able to come from Australia.

Second place easily went to Astiana Trouland riding Ola Schreurs, Shardan Jordy a chestnut Arabian Gelding turning on an impressive effort for his first 100km ride.  A few minutes then Brooke Candy riding Sollan placed third.  On a borrowed horse Delights Antar, Nicole Scannell placed 4th with stablemate, Zaandel NZL owned and trained by Holly Farm ably ridden by the highest placed Australian rider, Zeke Verspaandonk in the race, coming 5th.

BTR Symphony the 8 year old bay Arabian gelding with Alice Prangley aboard placed 6th just before Australian Ingrid Ambroiussen on Proud Mary, a 6 year old mare bred in the North Island by Butch Hagar.

The next two Australian riders, also sisters to Zeke who placed 5th came in placing a credible 8th and 9th riding Holly Farm’s Reilly NZL and Tabitha Verspaandonk and Karim NZL with Nikita Verspaandonk.  Both of these stunning Arabian geldings are by the Egyptian related fairytale stallion, Saracen Karim.  The other two riders had vetted out lame early on in the ride.  All the young riders rode sensibly and reaped the rewards of looking after their mounts.

Another 100km event was run on the Sunday but without the Championship status the entries were minimal.  It was interesting to note that the two riders in this event, Tiffen and Candy had also successfully completed a ride both days.  The main event of the day was the CEI2* 120km.  Sadly all entries in the CEIJY2* 120km vetted out lame such was the demise of many over the whole event.

Seasoned combination Kylie Avery and her chestnut 7 year old part-Arab Mare Silands Mia Bella left the field for dead easily finishing in a ride time of 7:41:06 more than two hours ahead of second placed North Island partnership of Jaki Bickerton and Morroccan Fyre.  Uncontested for Best Conditioned Silands Mia Bella also won this award.  Fortunately Avery had achieved glory and escaped the sweltering heatwave that ensued the locale.  This may explain how two hardy riders were overcome with heat stress and were too ill too continue safely therefore withdrawing from the course.  Some more lameness occurred leaving 3rd and 4th places taken up by Maxine Leary on a borrowed mare, Velvet Fire and Alex Lothian on Zion respectively.