>Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 09:59:18 -0800
>From: Laney Humphrey <laneyh@mbay.net>
>To: ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: cash prizes/publicity
>Message-Id: <199612071759.JAA25201@otter.mbay.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> As Bambi said, "tv sports are for
>wanna-be males," whose fantasies run to immediate fame and glory, not
>slogging through lonely hours of grit, grime and pain.
Laney, to the best of my knowledge endurance riding as a sport was
originally male only! The first few years of the TEVIS were men only
allowed. Of course now women compete very well in this sport. I know of
one man who has won TEVIS twice and did much of it on foot instead of on
the horse. He had one of the best prepared horses and he was prepared much
better that any "rider".
So I suppose he worked hard to win and expended a lot of time and energy
(probably some pain too!) But let's not start an argument about who is
better at this but let's all enjoy endurance riding in what ever manner we
each do!
> I would love to see endurance on ESPN if the coverage emphasized
>how well endurance horses are cared for and the contributions to
>knowledge about horses the sport has contributed.
>------------------------------
The TEVIS CUP endurance ride has been televised twice at least. I think
there was an ABC Wide World of Sports coveage in 1974 too!
The one I can remember was an ESPN coverage in the late 1980's. I don't
remember the year. It was very well done but the logistics were
horrendous, especially because the Ride is point-to-point and much of the
trail is in remote areas.
Also a local San Francisco area station did a special coverage of a 50
mile ride just a few years ago
It featured Julie Sur and showed how the horses are cared for as well as
how much work and fun it was!
A video of the Western States 100 Mile Run has been done 4 times that I
can think of. Twice by a local Sacramento private production company,
once on ESPN, and once on ABC! Same trail as the TEVIS (actually a bit
longer because runners are anally retentive about mileage) and same
logistical problems. Two helicopters were used in 3 of the videos! The
first on in 1984 was the first time the run was routed around Robinson
Flat due to snow - what a race! The winner won the run in the last
mile!!!!
----------------------------------------------------
Raymond Santana
Network Operations
UC Davis Medical Center
Sacramento, CA
rtsantana@ucdavis.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------