Premier riders from 12 nations including
Australia, Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, and the
UAE are expected to arrive for the May 8 Super League endurance ride at La
Baule, France.
The endurance venue, which begins at 8:30 AM beach-side
in this lovely Atlantic Coastal town, will travel inland through 6 stages and
several small villages before returning to the beach for the before-dark
expected finale. Sixty riders are expected at this years ride, twice the
amount of entrants in 2003, the 1st CEIO at La Baule.
I will be
covering the La Baule ride for EnduranceWorld.Net....tough assignment, but
someone had to do it. France is very organized in it's Equestrian
competitions, more-so than many countries, as it is totally underwritten (read
morally and financially) by its National Federation.
EnduranceWorld.Net will explore this lovely coastal area of France and
take you along on the competition trails that will travel some of the medieval
backroads of Brittany.
This event is the CEIO for France for 2004. The
designation is given to one country for one competition per year. In order to
obtain this label, the event must be of the highest quality. This top quality
event will give endurance riders a venue to further hone their skills, looking
forward to the World Endurance Championship in January 2005.
The UAE
will surely maintain the challenge to duplicate the individual first place
last year of Shk. Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktom, while the French team, who
won the first CEIO at La Baule in 2003, will be looking to repeat their Gold
Medal win.
The International teams will look forward to two other CEIO
events, Newmarket in Great Britain on June 27, and Gubbio, in Italy on
September 17-19 in this Competition series .
In France, Endurance is
the second largest equestrian discipline by number of licensed participants,
after jumping.
In 2003, a crowd estimated at 3,000-4,000 people
watched the finish of the competitors, who had begun their ride at 7 am. The
2004 ride will still start at the beach site at low tide at 8:30 am, and will
travel through many of small and medieval cities in the area. Some ride
modifications have been made to reduce road travel, and the trail is slightly
more difficult in technicality as a result.
