Opening Ceremony || Course || Vet Gate || Prize Giving
Italian CEIO - Italian Championship
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Gubbio Endurance 2009 included both the 2009 Nations Cup Italy, an international competition for Endurance riders which has taken place in Gubbio every year without a break since 2004, as well as the Roman Theatre Race, a CEI2* of 120 km along with a CEI1* of 93 km and which has been going since 2003. But in 2009 also the Italian Championship has taken place in Gubbio.
GUBBIO, LONG LIVE SPORT AMIDST NATURE AND CULTURE
English, French and German travellers on the Grand Tour in the 18th century used to make a point of visiting this small and inaccessible town, about which fabulous stories were told. And in fact Gubbio is unique and nothing quite like it can be found elsewhere. Here there is nothing Raffaelesque, with calm neighbouring valleys and towns which look across at one another from the hilltops or from the gentle slopes they are built on. Gubbio stands alone, its position dominating a narrow plain. It is surrounded by castles, abbeys, country churches and hamlets. To the right, among the rocks of Monte Foce are the ruins of a holy place of ancient Ikuvium where the priests and soothsayers, when the town was the religious centre of the Umbri , would bring down curses upon enemy towns. At is feet, framed in an emerald green plain, are the remains of the great Roman Theatre, a fossil shell to be sure, but one which is alive and made use of to this very day. Centre stage is the incredible and majestic spectacle of mediaeval Gubbio, crowned by the Palace of the Consuls, at the same time imposing and airy, almost as if it were about to take flight or to be launched on a sea of upraised rooves. Gubbio is a town which is easy to know but difficult to understand, and so a stroll along the wide and lordly main streets, or through the narrow alleyways, by the hanging gardens, the public palaces and the numerous churches, must be interpreted as a pilgrimage to a place dedicated to culture and historic memory. Endurance Village and Vet Gate are located inside the archeological site of the Roman Theatre which was built between 55 and 27 b.C. It is only slighyly smaller than the prestigious theatres designed by Marcellus and Pompeo in Rome and could accomodate 16,000 spectators. From here may be enjoyed a inique spectacle: under the hooves of thr horses the remains of the Roman city and as a backdrop the complex architecture of what is considered by many to be the most beautiful of all mediaeval cities. |
GUBBIO ENDURANCE 2009130 riders from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Japan, Jordan, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland with Officials from Great Britain, Spain, South Africa, Qatar, Switzerland, Greece, India and Italy.Oscar for the sympathy, the strength and courage to Mitsuko, the competitor from Japan who, at the beautiful age of 72 years, took part in the race longer, the CEIO 160 km.
RESULTS
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