I agree that the policy should be at the discretion of the ride
management. I helped with the Horsetooth Ride in its early
years. On our second ride, at 5am, the temperature was reaching
70. We started an hour early at 7 instead of 8. The vet informed
all riders prior to the start that the citeria would be lowered
to keep the speed down. Half way through the ride, with temperature
way above 100, the manager decided that the completion time would
be extended to 14 hours. All riders were informed of this as they
came into the lunch stop.
While there were a couple of riders who complained that everyone
should have to finish within 12 hours, most of the riders agreed.
The top 10 all finished within 12 hours, but several other riders
needed the extra 2 hours to complete safely. On this ride, there
are climbs of 1200 and 1400 feet, a few times. It's a tough course.
The one who needed medical treatment was a rider who was saving his
horse and ran instead of rode. He came in exhausted at one vet check
and was informed he would be pulled if he didn't start riding.
13 of 17 on the 50 finished. 25 of 31 finished the 25 mile course.
Everyone got home safely.
Had the ride manager not extended the completion time, some riders
might have pushed a bit harder to complete, and thus injuried their
horses.
The Horsetooth Ride in its early years had many weather problems -
1st year - The most rain in a single day the day before the ride.
And the rain continued.
2nd year - The hottest day on record.
3rd year - Lightning strikes cause fires behind the last rider.
And the fire crews used our ribbons to find the fire.
4th year - Tornados where none had been before.
Recently the Horsetooth Ride just experiences hard trails and good
weather.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Training Development Engineer HP-UX: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop 46 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292