Start and finish figures

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

Although our local federation was not left with any information regarding
the race stats, I've gotten a copy of the gate statistics.  We had 75 riders
start the race, 15 listed as UAE...though that is Abu Dhabi as well as
Dubai, 8 Syrians, 9 Jordanians, 2 Kuwaitis riding local horses, and 56
Egyptians. Of the 75, 15 riders finished.
Final stats are as follows:
1. Mohamed Maktoum Dubai  Riding time: 5 hours 46 min  Ave. Speed: 17.31 km
hr
2. Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi 5 hours 47 min  Ave. Speed 17.25
3. Rashid bin Mohamed Maktoum Dubai
4. Abdullah Bilhab Dubai
5. Ahmed bin Mohamed Maktoum Dubai
6. Faris Al Ahmed Syria
7. Abdul Gam As Alehi Syria
8. Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi
9. Adnan Saleh Syria
10.Ali Khalfan Al Jhahouri Abu Dhabi
11.Mohamed Ali Al Shafar  Dubai
12.Sultan bin Sulayem  Dubai
13.Mohamed Ahmed Emara  Jordan
14.Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi Abu Dhabi
15 Khalifa Saif el Falaisl  Dubia      7 hours 51 min Ave Speed 12.73 km hr

My understanding from the ride management was that there was an Egyptian
finisher, but it would appear not to be the case. As a matter of fact, it
would seem, talking to a number of riders from various countries, as well as
spectators, that a fair bit of effort was made that there would be no
Egyptian finishers. Guess they weren't too happy with our comments about the
spurs and the blatant favoritism last year. One Egyptian rider who was doing
very well decided to quit because as the rider found himself in the far
reaches of the third loop some unmarked (all crew cars had to have numbers)
dark Cherokees with tinted glass pulled out in front and tossed up sand in
the rider and horse's faces until another rider was encountered when they
disappeared, only to reappear when the rider was alone again. Seemed prudent
to withdraw at that point, especially since the stewards and vets had all
disappeared as well once the royalty had come in, so there was no one on the
trail to speak to. When the rider opted for a rider pull after the vet
check, officials said that it had to be "out of time"????

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net