I have to admit to being amazed by some of the
critical comments about our teams performance at the WEC. My feelings go along
with the "put up or shut up" responses to those who think our team sucks.
In the past I have had the opportunity to compete
at rides where Kathy Brunges, John Crandall, Jan Worthington, and Valerie Kanavy
have also competed. Actually "competing" is probably too strong a word to
describe my effort. At those rides, my views of these other riders
was a brief glimpse of them disapearing off into the
distance.
At the recent AERC National Championship ride,
Valerie Kanavy left camp 10 or 15 minutes behind me and still easily passed me
on the first loop. She finished about 4 hours in front of me and that was my
fastest 100 ever. At Tevis and the Old Dominion I also finished
about 4 hours behind John Crandall's horses. At the Biltmore, if I had
finished, I would have been about 4 hours behind Theatric. (We are darned
consistent aren't we?)
Until you have competed with these horses and
riders on the same course, you should not try to judge their abilities. My horse
is a good endurance horse, but he is not close to the caliber of these top
horses. As for my riding ability, well, that's not even close to these folks. We
can be competitive with ordinary horses and riders, but with these folks it
ain't even gonna be close.
A comparison might be made with horse racing. How
many trainers, owners, or jockeys win the Kentucky Derby every year?
Or even more than once in a lifetime? Or how many stallions sire the winner more
than once? When you get to a rarified level of competion such as the WEC, then
winning is not something you can count on every time. The next time the USA
could run 1,2 and 3. and the folks from the UAE would be spitting and
cussing.
I really enjoyed endurance.net's coverage of the
WEC. I even watched the finish live over the internet and got goosebumps.
It was a "wow!"
We appreciate the effort and sacrifice made by
those on our team.
