Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

The ROC was for the riders. When the ROC came to the East in '97 - it's last
year - the interest in 100's mushroomed for 94, 95 and 96 in the SE with
people that wanted to be part of it. Some of these people have not entered
a 100 since. 

The ROC I did was tough but doable. The ride was first class and yes there
is nothing better than toasting with your glass of champagne at the finish
line as you look into the cool night sky with a billion starts smiling down 
- I also still have mine. It was a week long affair with base camp opening
on Monday or Tuesday. There was a party atmosphere until ride day. I got
to see some wonderful country I would not have gotten to see otherwise and
those are memories. All the stars seem to come together that year, my job
demanded me to be in Denver for prolonged periods so we just packed up the
horses and moved to Torrey, Utah. I could spend the week in Denver and the
weekends in Torrey. We found a place to keep the horses - with the help of
the old "endurance@xxxxxxxxxx" for those who remember the good old days.
I also had the pleasure of meeting a super nice lady there named Steph Teeter
- hobbling around on her crutch:-). We stayed after and did some rides in
Colorado and met some wonderful people and have memories we will never forget.

The beauty of the qualifications was a dedicated rider with a good horse
could do it. You didn't even have to put up what an Arab to make it - I did
it on a walking horse (got my picture in Trail Blazer too) :-).

It was a class concept by a class lady. Too bad we can't get it back. 

Truman

goearth wrote:

Well Amanda it seems no one else online has commented on this so far so i'll take a shot.  The ROC was THE premier Ride before FEI.  Anyone who had hopes and dreams could aspire to go to a ride that had all the amenities you could only imagine, especially the glass of champagne at the finish.  I still have my glass emblazed w/ the ROC logo that i toast every so often.  There were horse trailers given to the winner and BC got big stuff. I wore the Patagonia Jacket for years and that went to the Top 20.  Susan Gibson was the organizer/brainchild and had a magazine called Trail Blazer that she could advertize and get sponsors (Because, its expensive to put on a premier ride).  The entry fee was high in regards to a normal ride but i feel as if it was some of my best money spent.  The horse and rider had to qualify on a certain amount of miles in the 100 and some had to be in the Top Ten.  It was not out of reach because as you see now there are some 100's that only have a  TT finishing.  The ROC always had the best Vets and the best competitors and Susan was one of the first to offer Team Awards, plus the course always changed and what i find most interesting about Endurance is the opportunity to see new and varied terrain from horseback, which is a way to see the world most people can only imagine and dream.  There can always only be one winner, so the rest of us have to figure out a way to win...mine was seeing new space and meeting new people.  Rides like the ROC take a toll and until you become a RM you do not know what goes on behind the scenes and how to keep all those balls you are juggling from coming tumbling down.  Susan probably made some enemys along the way.  But they were not the riders and i think it unimportant to get into that.  She took a sabbatical and wanted to redo to ROC last year in the spring and got sanctioning, but for some reason she wanted to do it in the fall and that conflicted with other rides and she was denied sanctioning by the AERC Board.  Because it needed that for people interested in FEI, points, etc...she cancelled it.  Where it is now i do not know.  If Susan would pick a date in advance and keep her accepted AERC Sanctioning it would be well attended and since nobody gets rich in this enterprise she would be doing a service to those that enjoy 100's and aspire towards them and it would help in developing a National Team.  I look at it this way.  It was a Great Ride and those memories will live with me forever. Thank you Susan, tom sites