RE: Women and endurance in the UAE

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

And none taken. I think Jen sums up the situation here well. We have some
women show jumpers, but that has traditionally been a military sport with
some civilian participation. Egypt could hardly come up with an endurance
"team" by any standards, although if we ever do, it's highly possible that
there will be maybe a 40/60 female/male split. Endurance, if we can ever
really work out how to do it properly, seems to be a sport that is suited
well to women in Egypt more than show jumping. It will be interesting to
see. In our last ride we had about 70 odd riders, of which probably 15 or so
were women. I tried to get a shot of one of our women riders with her black
scarf flying behind her and a big grin on her face, but my lens didn't quite
make out her features. Laura of Arabia does ride! Remember, endurance in the
Middle East is a VERY young sport.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net
AERC #M22292




I don't think there really are any
other "Middle Eastern" teams. (No offence, Maryanne!). Sure, Syria has a
couple of riders, Qatar does, too.. But the numbers are scant. I think
people have the wrong impression about the actual number of participants.
Endurance World magazine launched in May.  If you ask them who their idol
is, they will likely say
Athaba Al Tayer, who is the Margie Goldstein of the UAE.
Jennifer Nice
Editor
Endurance World Magazine