I always though doing a 100 was a pretty good deal. It really piles on
the points fast for year end awards. You could go to 100 with 11 riders
be the only one in your weight division to finish and walk away with
450 points in your weight division. You could finish 50th in a 100 and
get as many overall points as someone that won a 50 - sounds like a
good deal to me.
I sure don't see the decline in 100's tied to any award - or lack
thereof - system. The decline as I see it comes from new riders not
moving on to 100's. In the early 90's just about everybody wanted to at
least try one. I don't know the last time I have heard one of the
riders that got into the sport after about 1997 mention that. This
growing disinterest has cause ride managers to stop running them. Look
at how many 100's we had in the SE in the early 90's and look today.
I've heard RM's say why should they keep everybody up all night for 5
riders out of 120. New 100's are offered and no one shows up. Can you
blame RM's for dropping 100's from their offering or RM for not
offering them?.
I sure don't see piling on additional prizes would help. Fewer than 500
people accounted for all the starts in 100's last year. This is out of
an organization of over 6000 members. It's sure difficult to justify
additional rewards directed a such a small precentage of the memership.
It's not the rise of popularity of LD's that impacts the future
direction of endurance. In the SE the LD's has been what has stoked the
growth in 50's and consequently the growth in the number of rides. It's
the decline in the demand for 100's.
Ride managers will offer what sells. If people sign up for a 75, they
will have a 75 next year. If they don't, they won't. If people say they
want more 100's but don't show up when a new one is offered - it won't
be offered again. It gets right down to supply and demand. If the
damand is there the supply will expand to satisify that demand. There
is a growing demand for the 25 to 35 mile distance. There is a growing
demand for the 50 mile distance. There is a declining demand for the
100 mile distance.
The biggest impact to the traditionalist definition (whatever that
means) of endurance riding is the demise of the 100. In 10 years will
we have more than a hand full of 100's in the nation. At the current
rate - most likely not.
Truman
People who do 100's do it for personal reasons...period. I don't have a
horse to ride in 100's right now so I'm not speaking for myself but if
any group gets shortchanged that's where I see it happening, funny how
you never hear them complaining.
Angie
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
