Re: Thoughts on Nat Champs & ROC

["Cheryl Newbanks" <canewbanks@earthlink.net>]

Hi Angie,

Can you send me the web page for the ROC?  Thanks!

Cheryl Newbanks
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rides 2 Far" <rides2far@juno.com>
To: <sunsetrim@hotmail.com>
Cc: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 2:25 PM
Subject: RC: Thoughts on Nat Champs & ROC


> > There will never be the excitement of the ROC-type format...seeing  the
> greatest horses in the sport, head to head >>without weight divisions, 
> in one location!  It was worth going just to see these horses and their
> riders "in the flesh". People busted their tails to get qualified  cause
> it was such an honor to compete there. 
> 
> Never say never. :-)  I was a wannabe back when the ROC was around, but I
> went to one as a worker and had that awe.  It will be back this year.
> Will it be the same? The qualifying criteria is lowered.  
> 
> Remember when people used to run ads for horses and say "ROC" qualified" 
> Was it because people wanted a horse to ride in that ride or because that
> was a shortcut to saying, "This horse has completed 5 100 milers and one
> of those in the top 10"?  Reminds me of Mathew's "The Way We Win"
> proposal.  Was "ROC Qualified" not just another way to say: "Gold Level
> Competitor" or whatever?
> 
> I argued the same point you do that the National Championship qualifying
> criteria should be higher, so that just showing up would bring status
> like it did for the ROC.  They said they wanted to get the numbers up
> first.  Susan Gibson said she lowered the qualifying criteria for the ROC
> this year because she wanted people to have time to get their horses
> qualified.  Same reasoning.  Don't know how I feel about it.  
> 
> I think one reason the ROC didn't inspire the debate the NC does is that
> it made no claims as to what it was the championship of.  It wasn't
> "Horse of the Year" or anything.  The winner was simply the "Race Of
> Champions" winner...and took home a horse trailer by the way.  If you
> claim the winner of a race is the "National Champion" people
> automatically start trying to figure out what "better" horses weren't
> there to challenge that champion.
> 
> Was the original "Trailer Race" better?  Well...if you live in a part of
> the country where you can do a race every weekend of the year I guess it
> was...but it still didn't prove they were the "Best endurance horse in
> the country".  How do the Flat Track people handle the fact that all
> their horses don't manage to race each other?  They elect a "Horse of the
> Year".  They have knowledgable people who look at the different horse's
> records, times, etc. and they vote.  To me that's about the closest
> you're going to get to figuring out who had the "best horse" in any given
> year.  So long as you're going for head to head competition I think the
> present format is as good as any.
> 
> <<<seeing the greatest horses in the sport, head to head without weight
> divisions, in one location!  It was worth going >>>>just to see these
> horses and theirriders "in the flesh".  
> 
> Seems to me that at least every other year the  Pan Ams has sort of
> stepped into that roll.  Granted, the ROC had that quality of leaving it
> an individual sport which I like, but I'm just wondering if the riders of
> these top horses can get enough time off to do all the "big" rides or if
> they'll have to pick and choose, thus making it less likely that they'll
> ever all show up at one place.  The "New" Race Of Champions, from what I
> understand will not be moving around the country...just be in the one
> spot in Arizona until Susan decides otherwise.  That may give it a new
> twist favoring the same type horse or horses from that part of the
> country.  
> 
> I really don't know what my position is on all this.  I really like the
> AERC having one "Big Daddy of All" ride per year featuring 50 & 100 mile
> distances.  I'd want them to continue the practice even if they gave it a
> name other than National Championship.  And by the way, I LOVED the
> canvas bag I got for a rider packet...and I think that all those "extras"
> that the ROC showered every entry in was part of what made it so special.
> 
> Angie & Kaboot (who'd be ROC qualified under the old rules! :-)
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