The
President's Cup is an invitational ride. They want to bring the best riders in
the world together - an International 'Race of Champions'.
The
invitations are partially through the National Federations, and partially
'special' invitations.
The
Presidents Cup OC contacts each country (Federation) and asks them to send 'x'
number of their best riders. In the case of the US, our Federation chose to send
the WEC alternates (the three riders not chosen to ride the WEC would stay and
ride the Presidents Cup). Plus they wanted to invite the winners of the
rides that they sponsored (Tevis and Arabian Nights) . They invited the two tied
Tevis winners, Jeremy and Becky. Karen Kroon who won Arabian Nights is deployed
in Irag right now, so she couldn't come. They invited Hal because 'he is a
gracious competitor and a great ambassador for the sport' (their words). Plus
they are keeping a 'tradition and heritage' theme this year, and Hal is about as
'tradition and heritage' in the sport of Endurance as one can get. Hal was
offered Aleclipse to ride and accepted.
I
don't think the OC actually pays much attention to rides in the US in general -
and may not have even been aware of a National Championship winner, Fort Howes
winner, etc. It was simply a spontaneous decistion to
invite Hal - since they had a slot to fill (Karen Kroon) - and Hal
came to mind because they liked him and admired his lifetime
acheivements.
Steph
-----Original Message----- From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dabney
Finch Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 1:14 AM To:
ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] President's Cup
Question
So how does this invitational work? Is it
that a rider is invited and then the rider gets to bring whichever horse
the rider wants to/can scrounge up? (I mean, the horse is not also
specified in the "invitational"?)
And, I take it who is invited is at the sole
discretion of the "piper"? (As in, "He who pays the piper calls the
tune"?)
So, to answer my own question as to why Heather
was not invited, things like wanting to "repay" Tevis might be more
important than, say, inviting this year's winner of the AERC 100 mile
National Championshp--and Pan Am silver medal?
(Please don't anyone take this
as having anything to do with my opinion as to whether or not Hal Hall will do
a fabulous job on Aleclipse. He's an awesome rider and I have nothing
but the utmost respect for him and his accomplishments. It's
just that Heather has a) had a fabulously successful year; and b) while
riding Al. So I'm just genuinely trying to understand where that
choice came from!)
