Official Website
2009 FITS
Images by Angie McGhee
Angie's posts from base camp:
Saturday 50 and 75 || Saturday 50 and 75 *correction || Sunday 100 - update 1 || Sunday FITS 50
FITS 100 at 60 miles || FITS 55 || Sunday 100 - 90 miles || 100 Race to finish- WOW!
100 latest update || 100 winners, FEI stuff || Angies Photos of the Event
Finish of the 100
Spectacular Gold - 100 Mile Best Condition winner
...correspondence
100 winners, FEI stuff
-- Kim
What was winning time in the 100?
They started at 7AM and finished at approximately 6 PM. I had to leave at 7PM to make it to school 9 hour drive north at 7 AM. :-P I did not get to stay for the awards and do not know what the hold times were. I've tried to get in touch with them down there and the phone's dead.
I will say that they did the last 10 miles in around 45 minutes...raced in and were down within a very few minutes (less than 5 I'd say) of their return to camp. They both waited the full time till the CRI to get their completions out of fear of the absolutely assenine "one strike you're out" rule at the finish. It is absolutely the worst idea ever...make them get the pulse really low out of fear of a jump and risk the horse standing there long enough to tighten up. That was part of what got Josie. The horse was 64 very quickly, we got him down to 57, walked down to the gate and he jumped to 61 in the sun, got worried and went back to the shade to get him lower. Wind was blowing, by the time we had the nerve to take him in to trot he had a cramp...his other criteria was great and the darned CRI was 48/48.
For those who seem concerned, Josie has a chance to do an FEI 50 at the AHA ride in GA or Biltmore...but when you're rooting for the big dogs to revolt against the current stupidity, you feel like a scab crossing a picket line to participate.
On the positive note, they did not use those awful little slips of paper at the P&R area so the FEI thing would have been less irritating than usual for non FEI participants.
P.S. I committed the cardinal FEI sin!!! I was leading the horse through the P&R area and he stopped to pee. Before I thought...I WHISTLED! It's such a difficult habit to break! Everybody turned at once and yelled "You can't do that!!!!" then they all died laughing telling me what awful reprocussions it could have. I wouldn't dare tell that if we hadn't already DQ'd. I'd figure there would be a protest.
Angie
Latest update. Temperature has dropped quickly; it's gotten cool.
1. Danielle McGunigal
2. Ellan Rapp
3. Hernon Barbosa
4 Carol Stiner
5. Mary Farris
6. Cheryl Van Deusen
7. Ruth Sterley
8. Farzod Faryadi completion only (he missed a turn and had to make up the distance)
Danielle McGounigal & Spectacular Gold just won the 100 in an EXCITING race to the finish...which I got on video and can get up on Endurance.net first thing in the morning. 2nd by 1/2 length Ellen Rapp on Jeremy Olson's horse "Smokey". They finished at approximately 6:47...I think they did the last 10 miles in 47 minutes and both looked awesome at their completion checks.
Hernon Barbosa riding Steve Rojek's horse just finished 3rd around 35 minutes later. Jeremy Olson pulled, and Jan Worthington pulled at 90 miles. Stephanie Hendrickson pulled herself at 75 miles. She was beat, her horse had all "A"s.
Angie
First three horses in at 90 mile mark:
Danielle McGunigall
Ellen Rapp
Hernan Barbosa
They headed out for the last 10 mile loop around 6:05. Danielle's horse is absolutely stunning. Not that Ellens isn't looking good too. Both left at a hand gallop, Danielle left out a minute or two in the lead. Hernan was just arriving after they'd left so there was a good 30 minute gap.
Talked to Tom Swift. He's extremely frustrated. His horse "Junior", winner of the 2008 Biltmore 100 needed an FEI 50 this weekend to be allowed to do the FEI 75 at the whatchadoodle (not Red Barn but same weekend) ride, so he could do the Biltmore 100. Well, spent his whole winter down here in FLA training, trying to jump through all these hoops and the horse stepped on himself on the 4 mile trailer ride over here and didn't vet in in time to do the FEI.(Of course he's fine today) Now there's no way last year's winner is considered "qualified" to enter this year.
Meanwhile I drove all the way down here to let Josie get in an FEI 50 to prove she's capable of entering the FEI 75 Junior Rider's championship...even though she has completed 33 or so AERC 50 milers, and the horse she borrowed tightened up and trotted "off" in the rear end at the end of 55, so she's not qualified. That's just her 2nd pull ever and she's pretty bummed, but Steve Rojek cheered her up a little giving her Segway lessons and letting her do doughnuts in the field. :-)
Paul Sidio just came in turtle in the 55 with his young horse and he looked good. Paul was just as cheery as ever.
I'm off to the finish line. Should be downloading some photos soon as things have slowed down.
Angie
1st Pam Weidel 4:21
2nd Bob Gielen
3rd Tennessee Mahoney 5:06
4th Cody Boysen 5:11
5th Daryl Downs 5:47
6th Catherine Howell 5:49
7th Elizabeth Allen
8th Paul Sidio 7:57
It's HOT, feel the skin burning. We all look like raisins.
The 100's are looking pretty darned good though and not that many pulls.
At the 60 mile mark the leaders are:
1. Ellan Rapp pulsed down at 1:18:50
2. Danielle McGunigal (sp?) 1:21
3. Justin Nelzen 1:25
4. Farzad Faryadi 1:25
5. Jeremy Olson 1:28
6. Harnan Barboza 1:57
Danielle is riding Spectacular Gold, Vallary's horse that won the 50 at the National Championships. That's the one she gives Steph credit for. Steph called her and told her to buy this horse's dam for breeding. He's a TALL horse, I assumed an Anglo but they said "No, purebred". Everything about him looks FAST.
Four pulls so far:
Steve Rojek
Steve Hay
Kyle Gibbons :-(
Mary Lewis
Turned out there was no hurt rider earlier..(did I mention a scrambling of rescue types?) It was a horse that belongs to..."The Lithuanian girl" I think she's with Darolyn, it got loose and ran through a barbed wire fence. Since there's no barbed wire here it must have run off the farm. Word is that it's cut up and has a hemotoma but will be OK.
Josie just left out on the last loop of the 50. She said she puked off the horse...that's a first for her. It's hot. Just talked to someone else who had planned to do the 100 but got too sick trying to make it through the 50 yesterday. The heat is getting to folks who just aren't used to it this time of year.
Joe Schoech has proven himself a saint *again*. He did the 75 Friday, the fifty yesterday and planned to take today off...but a junior lost her sponsor and was at the back of the 30 so Joe saddled up and took her the last 15 miles. Honestly, the man's going to have so many "jewels in his crown" in heaven it's going to crush him!
The new FEI rules have gone over like a lead balloon. I've heard more disinchantment than I've ever heard from that crowd. Quite a bit of talk of hanging it up. Wanting to do the 100 FEI at Biltmore but can't unless they got the 50 in here and a 75 at Red Barn...not enough time to get them in, etc. I honestly believe if the WEC wasn't in KY in 2010 there would be a mass exit.
Angie
HOT, FAST, FAST. But apparently not as fast as Friday. Saturday's winner did the 50 in 3:54. Rumor is that the Friday time was maybe 20 minutes faster but a good way to get slapped by an official running a ride today is to ask them for results from 2 days ago!
37 started 29 finished. Somehow I have 30...not sure about the "Alicia" had to copy this from scribbled notes and awards announcements.
Saturday's 50:
1st to cross the line was Tom Hutchison on Theatric but he was eliminated at the finish check. Please forgive the lack of horse names. I've been very lucky to get people names but no list of horse names seems to be available anywhere. I just happened to know Theatric.
1st. Jeremy Olson
2nd. Cheryl Van Deuson
3 Samantha Sandler
4 Devon Horn (young rider)
5. Paulina Beach
6 Heather Reynolds
7 Christina Phillips
8 Cia Reise
9 Frank Murphy
10 Connie Caudill
11 Eva De Paulis
12 Leslie Feroglia
13 Lisa Williams
14 Lisa Winburn
15 Coty Bryson
16 Alicia (?)
17 Steve Rojek
18 Kyle Gibbon
19 Daryl Downs
20 Candy Bar Bar??
21 Anita Sinot (the person who I am copying from gets F in penmanship)
22 Brenda O'Donnell
23 Susan Wilson
24 Nina Barnett
25 Joe Schoech
26 Jane Limlaw
27 Mark Matthews
28 Mal Hai???
29 Mary Bocatell
30 Tennessee Mahoney
AERC BC &High Vet Heather Reynolds
FEI BC Jeremy Olson
22 Susan
Paul Sidio says hi to everyone. He did the 50 Friday, then Piper did another 35 Saturday and was cleared to go but Paul didn't think he was himself so he pulled himself. Piper looks fine. Today Paul's riding his young horse...just clicking along smiling at everyone and helping out as if he had not a care in the world. Fun guy.
It's 11:48 Sunday. The 100's started this morning at 7 AM in pitch dark with a faint light starting to glow on the horizon. It was pretty cool, I had on a shirt, sweatshirt and jacket and wanted coffee to hold to knock the chill off. The stars were crystal clear at 5:30 AM, not a cloud in the sky, Blood red moon setting. One good shooting star for a good omen.
23 horses started the 100 on a day that promises push 90 degrees. No clouds, the sun is pretty brutal at mid day but there's a steady breeze that helps some. Even the horses that are heavily clipped look hot with their shaggy legs. Those who only have trace clips look pretty matted up and itchy, making you want to break out the clippers again. The sand has gotten deep in places. The "Yellow" loop is especially bad, so much so that they changed the trail for the 55's last night and let them switch to firmer roads, but the 100's get to do that tough 15 mile loop for their 2nd let this morning which they are finishing now. It's going to be a tough day.
The front runners came into the start at 9AM, completing the first 25 miles in 2 hrs. flat. My daughter is in the 50 and carried a GPS and yes, it was a true 25 miles, they were moving on. I guess the urge is to cover all the ground you can while it's that cool.
The leaders coming into the first check were:
Farzad Faryadi
Jeremy Oleson
Danielle McGunigal
Ellen Rapp
Steve Rojek was right up there but was pulled at the first check. Personally I would have been relieve if I were him...he did the 75 Friday and a 50 Saturday but he just smiled and said, "Oh no" when I asked if it was a relief. Steve Hay was also pulled at the first check.
The next 15 miles was the deep sand loop. If I heard right, the front runner came in at the 40 mile mark at 11:03
Front runners:
Daneille McGunigall
Ellen Rapp
Jeremy Olson
Justin Nelson
Farzad Faryadi
Cheryl Van Deuson
OK, typical ride. A loose horse just went tearing by but it's caught again. Nothing too exciting to report. The ambulance left out while ago which makes me nervous with my kid out there but no further word so must not have amounted to anything. Rumor is that trailering here has lamed more horses than the sand, however, yesterday's winner of BC in the 25 was in a wreck on the way here, almost a head on, side swiped their camper so the pull out doesn't work and he still got BC!
FITS Saturday - correction and 75's This post complements of the electricity at Teddy's Running Bear Trailer. (for all your endurance needs) I feel she deserves a plug since all her customers have to climb over me sitting on her steps to get inside to shop.
First a correction and apology. I was told the winners of the 50 instead of the 75 when I reported Friday's 75 results. The amount of angst at the "control central" dealing with FEI red tape is at a high level and they really do have trouble handing out any info. Here's the real list:
Correct info on Friday's 75 miler:
1. Megan Savoy 7hr 10
2. Steven Rojek 7hr 10
3. Edward Kidd 7:10
4. Lucy Snook 7:20
5. Cheryl Van Deusen 7:33
6. Deborah Reich 8:21
7. Joe Schoech 8:21
8. Johnny Petras 8:40
9 Ceciola Engquist 9:14
10. Devon Horn 9:15
11. Lori Shifflet 9:36
AERC BC Lucy Snook
FEI BC Cheryl Van Deusen
Hi Vet Cheryl Van Deusen
FITS Saturday 50 and 75
Down here at FITS, having a little trouble with network connection but it's up now. I have to top 14 in the 50. There are more in now but I've been struggling with this connection for a while.
It's upper 80's HOT, lots of trace clipped hairy horses, very strong sun but a good breeze. I walked out on trail a ways and it's fairly soft. Lots of horses have been through. The front runner horses on the 50 left the last check at a full gallop. Jeremy Olson was in the lead but Tom Hutchinson riding Theatric passed him and finished 8 minutes ahead. However, Theatric had trouble after the ride and did not receive a completion. Tom's time was 3:46 so Jerry's official win time was 3:54 Loops were 20, 15, 15 with 2 50 min. holds.
(placement and finish time:)
1st Jeremy Olson 12:26
2nd Cheryl Van Deuson 12:34
3rd Samantha Sandler 12:48
4th Devon Horn 1:33:33
5th paulina Beach 1:33:34
6th Heather Reynolds 1:34
7th Christina Phillips 1:58:26
8th Cia Reese 1:58:30
9th Frank Murphy 2:02:14
10th Connie Caudill 2:15:19
11th Eva De Paulis 2:15:50
12th Lesli Feroglia 2:16:06
13th Lisa Williams 2:16:23
14th Lisa Winburn 2:16:40
I've seen quite a few horses trotting lame, some at vet in. I think the long haul may have taken its toll. There are trailers here from Ohio, Maine, Texas, Iowa and everywhere in between. Bummed riders who have no idea why they have a lame horse.
The sun is pretty brutal and I sure wouldn't want to be a heavy coated horse trying to work that deep sand tomorrow.
I'm trying to get a read out that includes the horse names but the poor women in the sign up tent are burried in bright red FEI tape. I was amazed just how many forms it took to get Josie signed into the 50 for tomorrow.
OK, this was all they could give me right now and couldn't stretch my luck or I'll get thrown out all together:
Open AERC 75 miler
1st Bob Gielen
BC Melody Blittersdorf
High Vet: Vicki Stanislowski
Angie