Emer Bermingham

A GRUELLING 160km mountainous course saw both Irish endurance riders fail to complete the World Endurance Games challenge in Sartilly, France on Thursday.

Tom MacGuinness and Helen McFarland were amongst 170 competitors to contest for a medal on Thursday in difficult weather conditions but while both riders battled hard, their horses were ruled out of the competition on veterinary grounds.

The individual gold medal went to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohd Al Maktoum of United Arab Emirates riding his mare Yamamah, who completed the course with an average speed of 19.68km/hr and a total time of 8:08:28.

The 21-year-old Dutch rider Marijke Visser (Laiza de Jalima) captured the first ever endurance medal for her country, taking silver in a riding time of 19.258. Bronze went to Qatar’s Abdulrahman Saad A.S.Al Sulaiteen (Koheilan Kincso), who finished over 37 minutes behind the winner.

It was always going to be a competitive race and from the start the lead horse and rider averaged 19.936km/hr on the yellow loop. However in recognition of the weather conditions and heavy going, WEG officials lowered the pace for elimination from 14km/hr from 15km/hr.

Louth native and Horseware boss MacGuinness got his campaign off to a tremendous start, reaching the vet gate after the first loop in second place.

However his hopes of a medal were dashed not long after this when his horse, Horseware LR Artista, picked up a slight injury that ruled the pair out of the rest of the competition.

Speaking to The Irish Field on Thursday night, MacGuinness said: “The weather and ground conditions made it a very difficult competition. It rained all day Tuesday and Wednesday. It was particularly deep in the forest and to be honest I slipped a few times.

“I was lying in a very good position, but then the horse went lame. They have great facilities here and the horse was checked out fully. The x-rays showed up nothing, so it was only a case of a pulled muscle. The main thing is that he is ok and we lived to fight another day.”

This was not the only injury for the MacGuinness team as one of his crew members, Nicola Boud, was injured following an accident at the second crew point on the course and will be returning home to Ireland sporting a cast on her leg.

MacGuinness’ teammate Helen McFarland had a better outcome, flying the Irish flag almost right to the end of the race. Having passed vet gate three, she and Just Cmall left in 56th position.

However, disaster struck for McFarland as the panel at vet gate four decided that Just CMall was slightly tender and could not continue.

Had McFarland been allowed to progress, she would have been one of just 33 riders from the original 170 starters to tackle the final loop of the course. It was disappointing for all concerned, as she had just 20.5km left to complete.

Irish endurance chef d’equipe Edward Allen was pleased with the performances of his charges.

“Both riders did a great job. Tom was very courageous and to be in second place at the first loop was a great achievement. Helen also did an excellent job and to get so far under such horrendous conditions was a great result. We were gutted for her when she didn’t get through to the final loop,” he said.

“In endurance, the welfare of the horse is the most important thing and this was clearly evident with our horses, as they weren’t allowed to go any further once there was a slight chance that they may be feeling the strain.”

In the team competition, the very difficult footing following heavy rain meant the attrition rate of the competition was high, leaving only three teams with three riders in contention.

The Spanish team of Jaume Punti Dachs, Jordi Arboix Santacreu, Javier Cervera Sanchez-Arnedo and defending champion Maria Alvarez Ponton took gold with three riders left in contention after a total riding time of 28:56:02.

The French team of Jean-Philippe Frances, Denis Le Guillou and Robin Cornely claimed silver in a combined time of 29:08:44, while the Swiss team of Barbara Lissarrague, Sonja Fritschi and Andrea Amacher took bronze.

HORSE DEATH

Sadly an endurance horse died after colliding with a tree on the first loop of the course.

Costa Rican rider Claudia Romero Chacon and her horse Dorado fell around 400m from the first checkpoint on the route, after completing almost 14km of the course.

An FEI official said the horse struck a tree at the side of the track in a forested area, sustained a head injury and died instantly. Romero underwent surgery to treat fractures and internal injuries and is in a serious but stable condition.