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I arrived in Terengganu about a week after the foreign horses  
arrived. The horses were shipped from various points around the world  
- Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires, San Paulo, Doha, Dubai,  
Amsterdam - routed through Europe, and into quarantine at Kuala  
Lumpur. They were then transported via military transport plane  
(http://www.endurance.net/international/malaysia/charlie/ ) to the  
Terengganu (TGG) Airport.  By the WEC next year TGG will be an  
International airport - they are extending the landing strip 1  
kilometer - into the sea - to make it long enough for the big  
transports to land.  This will also open up the eastern part of  
Malaysia to more tourism and industry.

Riders and grooms and horses were settling into a routine and seemed  
quite relaxed and content. They were happy with the stables, the  
trail, the afternoon swim in the pool... it was a very peaceful. And  
wonderful to see friends and familiar faces! My good friend from  
Argentina - Mercedes Tapia - was there, the American riders John  
Crandell, Kathy Brunjes, Heather Reynolds, Hasumi san (and Harumi and  
Yaguchi) from Japan, Leonard Liesens from Belgium - people I have  
known for years, from other rides, other places. And many other  
familiar faces, good people, from previous rides.

As the weeks progressed a wonderful camaraderie developed. If felt  
like being at a World Championship - so many people from all around  
the world - but without the real stress, without the competitive  
edge. Everybody here was on the same team, with the same goal: to  
test the course and to perform their best,  with the caveat - to  
finish is to win.  A very different type of race. Twenty one riders  
were there by invitation to 'see if it could be done'. The prize  
money would be divided equally among all riders that completed -  
$5000USD for finishing the ride. Placement only matter for prestige,  
for FEI ranking points, for a shot at Best Conditino, for ego. Twenty  
riders would represent Malaysia - and even though they weren't in the  
test group - they still had everything to gain by finishing. And  
three riders would represent UAE - on special invitation from the OC,  
but not part of the 'test group'.  It was a very pleasant atmosphere.  
I suspect the tropical climate, ocean breezes and smiling faces of  
the Malaysian people had a lot to do with the friendly atmosphere as  
well.

And while the riders and horses were settling in, the OC (Organizing  
Committee) was working around the clock. Working so very hard. Zulu  
(Derek Liebenburg) had been on site since the first of the month. In  
addition he had spent the month of July in Terengganu - working with  
Azrin (director) and others from the OC - trying to figure out what  
still needed to be done at the venue, and how to get it done in time  
for the event. The stabling and trail became Zulu's focus - plus  
coordinating the remaining construction, the different groups of  
people working together (military, local police, medical and  
veterinay personel) and generally keeping track of things. Everything  
had to be perfect.

Azrin and her team (Salim, Fida, Juan, 'Boy', Marouf, Mimi ...  
others) - working so hard - living and breathing Sultans Cup.  
Arranging transport and accommodation, rental cars, SUV's (a rare  
item in Malaysia - they shipped over everything they could find from  
KL), arrangements for officials, printing of programs, maps, awards,  
dinners, ceremononies, VIP's, arrangements for vets, riders, grooms,  
etc etc etc! Dealing with daily demands and complications, they were  
still smiling but a little glassy eyed. The OC also made a great  
effort to show their guests the real Malaysia - trips to the offshore  
islands, batik factories, local markets. They did as much as was  
possible!

The veterinary inspection was on Friday, and the race would begin  
Saturday afternoon. One of the foreign horses would not start - the  
mare from Stephan Chazel that Leonard would ride spiked a fever the  
day before - I'm not sure what the diagnosis was, but ultimately the  
mare was treated and would not start. Otherwise everybody was ready -  
and focused - and now the last minute flurry of preparation. Setting  
up the crewing area- food for horse, rider, grooms - buckets, hay,  
ice, yoghurt, potato chips, coca cola, electrolytes... chairs,  
towels, change of clothing, umbrellas? raingear? all that stuff - and  
for all night - this was going to be a long night, and most didn't  
really know what to expect.  And it was difficult to figure out how -  
or if -  to sleep before the ride. Some tried to get extra sleep the  
morning of the ride, but it was tough - especially after having  
already gone through a night to day transition on arrival to  
Malaysia. Mostly people would just sleep Friday night and then plan  
on no sleep Saturday.

Saturday at the venue was very hectic. The press core had arrived,  
lots of VIP's, visitors, spectators, everybody asking questions,  
wanting things,  getting last minute accreditation, all that stuff  
that drives ride management crazy, but is just part of an event and  
has to be dealt with. Many people (especially press) wanted to be  
taken out to the various crewing areas and water points so they could  
plan their photo shoots - when to see the riders come through, when  
was there going to be the most action. John had arranged to have  
everybody meet at noon and caravan out to the check points. Of course  
one group came an hour later and had be taken out again. Various  
languages were being spoken (Bahrain press was there to document the  
event, send back pictures and info since they didn't have riders  
there), much confusion - who has what car? who can take this group?  
where do we go? it was a bit frantic. There was a very nice press  
room set up, with internet, and wireless connections, printers, etc .
and it was a flurry of activity. In and out, questions and questions.  
We all took our shoes off before entering any of the rooms - press,  
office, accreditation, etc - because the tile floors quickly became  
dirty. It was fun seeing the piles of shoes outside each door.

We managed to get almost  everybody out to most of the selected crew  
points to make their photo plans. I had to return the car I had used  
to take our group out onto the trail, and afterwards asked Esther  
(one of the team from KL there to help - communications, press, etc)  
to take me out to one more point  so I could see how far it was,  
travel time, etc. I had plan to catch the riders on their first loop  
about half way through and take  the Japanese press out on the track  
- they spoke very little English, no Malay, and were a bit  
overwhelmed. It was 2 hours before ride start so we need to hurry a  
bit - and Esther said she knew a good way to get there. (She had been  
on her own the day before, having to figure out where to take people  
and pretty much had to figure it all out herself). She knew of one  
way to get to the point, and thought it would be fastest. Ok  - lets  
go, and then we can get back in time for warmup and flag off and  
transporting the press back out on the course. We had to drive a  
combination of access road and trail (the trail mostly followed dirt  
farm roads and palm oil forest roads) and it was a little wet and  
swampy in places - but she seemed confident and seemed capable of  
handling the 4WD. We got to one particularly wet area - almost at the  
end of the section of trail and it got worse and worse - but no place  
to go but foward.

At this point a driver experienced in mud or snow or deep sand would  
get aggressive - don't lose momentum - keep the speed up but not so  
fast that you'll slide off the road or take to the air - but Esther  
was a KL city girl - game, but not experienced - she got worried and  
slowed down.. and slowed down... and then that was it, we were stuck.  
The wheels spun mud in every direction. We were high centered. Damn -  
and one hour before the start. At least we weren't on the first  
loop!  I surveyed the situation... no rocks or logs or anything to  
jam under the tires, impossible to push. So ... better start walking.  
We were very close to a control point (actually the first control  
point of the race, where the two loops came together) - there were  
guys there filling water tanks, and setting things up. I communicated  
(somehow) that we were were stuck in the mud, pointed to the  
direction of the truck, and they nodded and smiled and grabbed their  
cell phones. I can only imagine what they must have thought about  
seeing a tall white woman emerging from the swamp, barefoot in the  
mud. But they smiled and nodded and communicated (somehow) to me that  
help was on the way.

I slogged back through the mud to the rig, Esther was on the phone,  
looking very distressed - of course she was in a bit of trouble - out  
on the course, stuck, with one of the 4WD's, and me, and the race  
about to begin. It was really my fault, and it felt like a perfectly  
natural situation to me - in a bit of a bind, the clock was ticking,  
more adventure...  So I assured her I'd explain to everybody that I  
was responsible. I'm not sure she felt much better, but she was  
really a good sport about everything - every bit as muddy as I was  
and not a bit of complaining.

Two guys came in a jeep with a chain - no english speaking at all -  
the chain hook wouldn't fit in the towing loop - loop was too small.  
no rope, nothing in the 4WD, no small chains... much time spent with  
chin in hand pondering the situation...finally I grabbed the wire  
handle off of one of the kerosene lanterns used to light the trail  
(there were several extras in the back of their jeep) and after a  
couple attempts at securing the chain to the chassis it held, they  
pulled, I worked the gas pedal, we slipped, slid and then the wheels  
found purchase. Hooray! Esther was happy to have me drive, we had a  
few more deep muddy spots to get through - but I kept our speed up  
and we hit the road, waved thanks to our jeep guys, and made it back  
to the venue with 15 minutes to spare!

John was out on the warmup field taking photos and I decided to stay  
put, at the observation deck, and try to salvage what little time was  
left. The flag was waved, the race began - 4:30pm, 2 hours of  
daylight before the night fell - the riders were off - some moving to  
the front right away, others trying to keep their horses under  
control, still others hold back in hopes for a more controlled start.  
Everybody went into motion - crews, press, staff - find the rigs,  
drive out to meet the riders, begin the routine of the long ride. And  
then it started to rain, and really really really rain. Thunder and  
lightning and deafening sound of rain on the roofs and the ground,  
streams and rivulets forming in seconds, grassy field turning into a  
lake. And all of a sudden all the fretting about photo ops, crew  
points, etc - became moot!

I had arranged to have our driver take us out on the course for  
photos. (a driver and liason person and a Toyota SUB had been  
assigned to John and I during  few days prior to and after the event  
- Rhuda - sweet young librarian in Terengganu with a curiousity about  
foreign affairs - a volunteer for this event).  We (me and the  
Japanese press - with a cameraman from HorseTV there to document  
Hasume san's ride) had planned to meet Leonard and follow him out on  
the course - but in the rain, and the confusion, we somehow missed  
our rendezvous and I decided to just head out on the course and take  
our chances on finding the place we had selected for our first photo  
shoot. It was raining so hard we could barely see anything - barely  
even see the road. We got to the first spot and settled in to wait. I  
didn't see any horse tracks  so figured the riders must not have  
gotten there yet. Hmmm... longer than I would have thought. And then  
a couple crew cars went zooming past us from another direction and I  
realized we must have missed the riders, all the tracks had simply  
disappeared in the rain. A quick turn around, quick map study, and we  
headed for the next spot. We got to a corner of the trail just in  
time to see the first riders approaching in the distance... dark gray  
moving objects in a very watery gray landscape. This would do! We  
stayed there until most of the riders had gone by - the Japanese  
camera man seemed content, I got a few photos and videos, routed Jack  
Begaud back on the trail when he turned right instead of left... and  
decided that there was no reason to try to get back out on the trail  
at that point unless it stopped raining (which it didn't).  
Photography was not going to happen in the tropical torrential rain.

- this story is getting really really long... - but a little more -  
later (I'm almost done!) -

Steph



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