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!)
