2009 Longstreet's Charge
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RESULTS
Longstreet's Charge 50 miler 42 started 37 finished Best Condition: Kara Disbrow on Viente Corona 1. Sue Mullen on Forever Noel 5:50 2. Kara Disbrow on Viente Corona (Gooby) 5:52 3. Lynda Webber on BR Jubaleigh (Bailey) 6:04 4. Joni Buttram on Cash Bonus 6:12 5. Gary Sanderson on Galapago Amigo 6:12 1st AHA 6. Josie McGhee on TM Cade 6:15 7. Betsey Knight on "Not sure yet" 6:15 8. Louise Wilson on Bonafyed 6:17 9. Beth Allen on Khemozeddi (Pepper) 6:31 10. Morgan Kenelly on SHE Galexxi (sister) 6:46 11. Lynn Kenelly on Basha Bada Bing 6:46 12. David Goertz on AM Cisco 6:54 13. Terry Price on Vizir's Princess (Bella) 7:14 14. Jack Price on Negm El Sabah 7:14 15. Brenda O'Donnell on Slickk Willy 7:14 16. Sharon Wilson on Buddy 7:14 17. Fran Wilde on Congo's Destiny 7:14 18. Monica Rawson on Rose Trilogy 19 TIE 19.Chris Littlefield on Farley 7:37 19. Cindy Collins on JA Hallys Eclipse (7) 7:37 19. Nelia Rueter on Cherwona 7:37 22. Cindy Young on CS Suprise Dream (Levi) 7:49 23. Suzanne Solis on Khorvet (1ST CAVALRY) 7:49 24. Roxanne Ciccone on Shar-Po 7:57 25. Susan Kain on NovaKain 7:47 26.Cynthia Bell on BSF Take A Chance 8:24 27.Mary Yenter on Rohara Egoiste 8:24 28. Angie Fura on Invincible Magic 8:27 29. Debbie Parsons on Boomer 8:45 30. Debbie Lashley on Summers Alibi (Rudy) 9:20 (cavalry) 31. Maggie Cash on Gospal Singer 9:20 (cavalry) 32. Laura Horst on Petuskey Spot (Toskey) 9:22 33. Dody Sutton on Sierra Bey Wind (Itchy) 9:22 34 Gail Frandson on Deigo 9:46 35. Susan Franklin on Bird 9:47 36. Claire Summers on Eclipsed 9:48 37. Maggie Ricketson on Easter Bow Lilly 9:48
Longstreet's Charge 25 43 starts 33 completions, 7 more finished but were overtime. Only 3 pulls Best Condition: Debra Ivey on Raazyl Cha (Tia) 1. Debra Ivey on Raazyl Cha (Tia) 3:17 2. Linda Norton on Nautiki Ku (Tiki) 3:40 3. Ellis Neidich on Bunkey 3:40 4. Geral Hudgins on Midesto 3:41 (cavalry) 5. Kathy Dandridge on Desimir 3:43 6. Melissa Hamilton on Haas 3:46 7. Rachel Neidich on RA Mystic Deed (Rooster) 3:50 8. Chaulsey Chaulton on L 4:06 9. Lynn Workman on Spanky 4:09 10. Alisa Waxman on AA Xephyra 4:10 11. Patty Gale on Shalarro Manks 4:13 12. Elizabeth Galloway on Stone 4:20 (cavelry) 13. Edith Jones BW Miss Lady Luck 4:20 14. Victoria Wilcox on Leyna 4:23 15. Kim Williams on RW Omega 4:24 16. Jane Larrimore on TLC Kopper Kadin 4:25 17. Catherine Whitaker on CW Easter Storm 4:25 18. Sherry Neidich on Gallant 4:28 19. Keith Galloway on Gold Fire Dancer 4:28 (cavalry) 20. Jacqueline Davis on Duke 4:29 21. Lenore Choate on MA Rayo 4:33 22. Alice Farrar on SMS Apache Shadodanz 4:35 23. Judy Clark on Lightning 4:36 24. Mary Lynn Johnson on Comedy Club 4:46 25. Maranda Mance on My King Starbert 4:48 26 Stephanie Waddington on Ibn Tom Terrific 5:06 27. Jana Smith on Silver Garnizon 5:07 28. Tykey Truett on Al-Marah Kindho 5:18 29. Lily Turaski on Sam Mazon 5:18 (1st Junior) 30. Trish Harrop on LT Bright Patch Joker 5:18 31. Miles Cary on Boz 5:18 32. Gail Moore on Beau 5:19 (cavalry) 33. Anna Scoggins on Roman 5:19 The following were over time, but completed the course and earned the Longstreet's Charge T-shirt for sticking it out! Lynn Schott on Abe Amber Massey on Marquise Bey TS Daphne Hoffen on NS Fadls Eclipse Lisa Salas on The Negotiator Susie Anderson on Suzie's Hot Spice Tea Marty Head on Snowy River's Amanda Karen Pruett on RA Shatani
The Longstreet's Charge Ride story by Cindy Collins
For those of you who won’t read this whole story, just let me say that if you have a chance to ride the Longstreet’s Charge 50 miler in the southeast region, you should do it. It’s a “real” endurance ride with challenging, beautiful, extremely well-marked trails, the best awards I’ve seen in years, friendly vets and a warm, hardworking ride management staff. Check out Angie's photos.A little background…Angie, Jody and I have been emailing and sharing our thoughts on ridecamp for years now. However, we’d never met in person. Each of us kept saying that we should figure out a way to get together. You know how that goes…time just slips away. Finally, Angie asked if I’d come out and ride Longstreet’s Charge on her horse “7.” Many of you may have followed the story of 7’s rescue and his new life as an endurance horse.
Well, I decided I’d better grab this opportunity or it might never happen. First, I had to get school board permission to take leave without pay for six days, just one week before school was out for the year! I’d never done anything like that and had to also deal with the guilt of leaving my students so close to the end of the year (I teach children with autism in middle school). BTW, they were all fine. I missed them way more than they missed me! I had a super substitute and have one of the best teacher’s aides ever.
Next, I had to convince my long-suffering husband that this was something he really wanted to do with his very limited vacation time. So, I tied the trip to a visit with his family in southern Arkansas AND visiting all of the major civil war battlefields between Arkansas and NE Georgia/SW Tennessee! The plan worked…mostly because he loves me and knows how badly I wanted to do this J
We flew out of Cody on Friday, the 15th and landed in Little Rock, Arkansas. We rented a car and headed to Lake Village, Arkansas. We visited family for four days. Had a wonderful time eating tons of deep fat fried food…catfish, hush puppies, and cole slaw by the bucket loads! We sat on the floor of a neighbor’s home so we could watch Rachel Alexandra and Mine that Bird battle it out in the Preakness. We saw a bald eagle nest in a cypress tree on our nephew’s farm with one baby peeking out and two parents who dive bombed us a few times to let us know we were not wanted. It was a super visit, just not long enough, as always.
Tuesday we headed across the states…Brice’s Crossroads, New Albany, Columbus (where I worshipped at the birthplace of Tennessee Williams), Corinth, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Chickamauga were some of our stops. I really do believe that the air and earth on those blood soaked battlefields is somehow rarified and forever different. I once saw a gravestone in a southern cemetery and the inscription read, “What hopes and dreams have died with you, my son!” The futility of war always stops me cold and makes me so sad that we humans are so limited in our ability to work out our problems without slaughtering our children.
Thursday we reached Lafayette, GA and called Angie, planning to head over to her house, but she was already heading over to the ride site. Time just slipped away from us. We were closer to the ride site than to her home, so we met her there. The BAD thing about this is that I didn’t ever get to see their home or meet Kaboot!
The ride camp is in a beautiful meadow surrounded by forest (jungle!) at the base of the mountain. The trail heads right out of the camp. When we got there, Angie’s husband, Bill, was trying to put up a brand new tent they’d ordered on eBay. So, Keith and I helped with that and once it was all up, it was really a very nice shelter for ride management! About the time we finished, Angie arrived. Timing is everything! She needed to go mark some trail turns and check on the vet check site, so we all piled into the jeep and headed up the mountain. We stopped at Hood’s Overlook, the spot where General Hood could look down on General Sherman’s army as Sherman headed for Atlanta. The vet check area was beautiful, too, with several porta-potties, plenty of grass, large shade trees and water containers. You could see little pieces of the trail from the main roads and it looked like fun.
Since we didn’t have ANYTHING with us for camping and felt like Angie had enough on her plate trying to run the ride, we decided to be wimps and get a room at the Day’s Inn in Lafayette just a 20 min. drive from the ride camp. I figured having a hot shower and restaurants would make it all easier for me and, especially, my husband. There were already a lot of people pulling into camp Thursday. I’m guessing there were at least thirty rigs there.
Friday at noon we met Angie and Josie (Bill & Angie’s youngest daughter and the first recipient of the AERC college scholarship) back at the ride site. I was able to meet “7.” What a sweet, honest, kind horse he is! Josie and Angie helped me adjust the saddle leathers! That was the big fear…that they wouldn’t be able to let out long enough! Now, you need to picture that Angie’s older Orthoflex saddle has a 14.5” seat and I have, at least, a 17-18” seat attached to my body! I’m 5’7” and Angie is….well, let’s just say horizontally challenged. Josie warned me that the saddle’s seat was REALLY hard and she wasn’t kidding. Angie has a full sheepskin cover for this saddle. But, as we looked at my bottom and at the seat on this saddle, the consensus was that we shouldn’t take up any extra space with sheepskin L Josie agreed to lead me out on a short ride. Angie continued with ride management duties and my husband went with Bill to mow grass and do other ride chores. Angie’s friend, Lynda Webber, also saddled up and went out with us for the test ride. The trail starts up a short, steep single track and onto a fire road. We walked, trotted and cantered. “7” seemed perfectly fine carrying an extra 20 lbs and was a very good boy. He doesn’t have the lateral movement I’m used to, but he also is very willing to do whatever his rider asked…once he figured it out. He may be one of the most sure-footed horses I’ve ever ridden! So, the test ride was a huge success and I was excited about the next day’s adventure.
My goal was always to complete in the middle of the pack. I was in a borrowed saddle, on a borrowed horse, in unfamiliar terrain and a climate I’m not used to anymore. I think the biggest fear for me when I ride someone else’s horse is the thought of hurting someone’s horse. We all know that bad things can happen in this sport even when you are doing everything right…so, I planned to start moderately and try to maintain a pretty even pace all day.
I really lucked out on the weather…it stayed in the high 70s and drizzled a little bit on and off, but it never rained enough for me to even put on my rain jacket. The humidity was very high and I was always “damp.” Even Josie said the humidity was high! However, it was not 90 degrees w/humidity!
There were 43 riders in the 50 miler and 43 in the 25 miler.
The start was faster than I would have liked and “7” and I had to have several serious discussions for the first 5 miles! Overall, I’d say that the riders on this trail went way faster than I would on gravel and fire roads and a bit slower than I would on single tracks. The trail is mostly tight single track, some fire roads, and a small amount of gravel. Almost everything is either up or down, very little flat trail and I really liked it. There are waterfalls, caves, tunnels, and every kind of tree, rock or plant that southern forests offer. “7” is awesome on the tight rocky trails. He made time in those sections. It was a blast to fly through the trees and over rocks and roots with such a sure-footed horse. I was never afraid of him tripping or falling. I rode most of the day with Chris Littlefield from Florida. She was great company. There was a short section where she got really sick and I thought she might have to drop back and walk in, but she kept going and felt much better after the 2nd vet check. Our horses paced well together. She led on the fire roads and we usually led on the single tracks. Nelia Rueter joined us for the final 9 miles in and we all came in together around 4:30 in the afternoon with a ride time of 7:37. I can’t tell you how happy I was to finish with a happy, sound horse. “7” came in to each check, including the final one, with his PRs at criteria. BTW, there were a little electrolytes available to him in one of the two feed tubs, but other than that, he didn’t get any elytes all day. Angie has never given him any orally. Angie, Bill, and Keith (my husband) crewed for me at every stop. Angie took care of “7” and just let me be a bum!
As I said earlier, the awards were amazing. There were blankets or coolers for top 10 in both distances, t-shirts for everyone who completed the trail and lots of smaller prizes. Get Angie to put up a photo of the new perpetual trophy for first place in the 50 miler!
I learned two profound things… 1) I REALLY hate ticks; and 2) These women don’t ever need to pee!!!! The women I ride with in Wyoming do have to pee on the trail. These “belles” NEVER stopped to pee the entire day. I, on the other hand, had to stop twice! Either I’m doing something wrong or THEY are going to have seriously damaged bladders when they are my age J
I didn’t get to ride with Joni or Josie cause they were much faster on that day than I wanted to go. Joni finished 4th and Josie finished 6th. I didn’t get to ride with Jody cause she didn’t get to ride, BUT she was the “enforcer” *itch for the cavalry division and struck terror in the hearts of all as she lurked behind bushes spying on riders.
There were so many wonderful people that I hesitate to start naming names, but I will say that it was an honor to finally meet the beloved vet, Otis. I’d heard so much about him from SE riders. It was great to see Susan Kassemeyer and Danny Herlong after so many years. It was also wonderful to see Debbie Parsons, again. She was one of our Tevis refugees at the BigHorn 100 miler last year.
Sunday morning we started driving west and flew out of Little Rock, AR on Monday. Back to school on Tuesday for me and Keith headed back to his job on Wednesday.
Jody, Angie and I all agree that one trip was just not enough. I really want to go back and spend time just visiting and pleasure riding with them. I want to see Jody’s mules and ride Angie’s Kaboot. I want more time to visit their homes and see all the sights we missed along the way. Thank you to everyone that made us feel so welcomed and who helped put on such a fabulous ride. I hope we can lure a few of you out to the BigHorn some day. Thank you, a thousand times, to Angie for inviting us out and for trusting me with “7.” Cindy
P.S. Please get Angie to tell you all about the lady with the "snake-bit dog" and the man who tried his “foolishness” on her J