With many thanks to Martin Moore for this excellent report on the test event for Endurance at the World Equestrian Games to be held in France next year. Over to you Martin -
A Testing Event for Endurance at WEG 2014?
By Martin Moore; with helpful comments along the way from 8 travelling
companions and others.
The test event for Endurance at WEG
2014 was held in the Department of Manche, Normandy on 15th and 16th
August. The competition venue at the Sports Stadium of Sartilly is about
half-way between the coastal town of Granville, to the north-west, and the
citadel town of Avranches, between the mouths of the Sée and Sélune rivers to
the south-east. This is an area combining outstanding natural and man-made
beauty, exemplified by le Mont-St-Michel.
The CEI 2* ride of
129kms comprised four cloverleaf loops from the venue – sequentially, La
Lucerne (yellow) of 38.8kms, Jullouville (blue) of 33.6kms, Avranches (red) of
34.5kms, and Dragey (green) of 22.4kms – with holds of 40, 40 and 50minutes
respectively at the venue vet-gate. Reconnaissance of the route, during the 2
days preceding the ride, demonstrated how different each of the loops would be
to ride, and how clever the organisers had been in putting together a
technically challenging course for horses, riders and crews. The yellow loop
started and finished through relatively flat farmland, but had a section to the
north of Sartilly around Forêt de la Lucerne and St-Pierre Langers with
numerous climbs and descents of 50 to 80ms. The blue loop shared the same start
as the yellow loop then veered north-west, reaching the coast south of
Granville, and following the sand beach, used for trotting races, south for
about 4kms, then turning east inland to re-join the finish of the yellow loop.
This stretch of coast is a popular beach holiday and water sport location, and
was crowded the day before the ride (a public holiday in France). However, we
soon discovered that it was not unusual for the beach to be closed to the
public for equestrian events. The red loop, probably the most scenic, started
and finished through undulating farmland, with a middle section along the Baie
du Mont-St-Michel coast from Avranches to Genêts, including the marshy
grassland of the river estuaries and rocky outcrops around the southernmost
point at and to the north of le Grouin du Sud. Finally, the green loop
circumnavigated Dragey to the south-west of Sartilly including a 4km stretch of
sand and dunes beach overlooking le Mont-St-Michel. With two beach sections, separated
by a ride/hold time not expected to be less than 4½ hours, a significant
challenge would be to complete both when the tide was out far enough for there
to be firm, wet sand to ride on.
58 horse and rider
combinations from 35 nations, from Argentina to the USA, made the start at
06:30hrs local time on the 16th, a much cooler morning than the
previous day. Beccy Broughton-Booker, riding Derek Grantham’s Viniculture, and
Tricia Hirst, riding Philip Hirst’s Madjin des Pins, were representing Great
Britain. Even with this reduced number of competitors and crews, compared with
the likely number at a WEG, the venue space and layout for the test event
vet-gate and crewing had been “challenged” at the pre-ride vetting the previous
day, and that situation did not improve during ride day itself. There was the
usual contingent of management team Chefs, vets, physios and farriers, plus
National Federation and FEI representatives, but few spectators other than our
group of 9 “usual suspects” and two Endurance GB Board members.
By the first crew
point at 15kms, close to Abbaye de la Lucerne, the field was already strung out
by 30 minutes. This resulted in two hazardous situations; the first was
contra-flowing crew traffic on the narrow lanes and track access to the crewing
field; the second, and more serious, was when the front runners returned to
that crew point, after completing the 7km forest lollipop, down a stoney track
and crossed with back marker riders going out on that section. 5 horses were
eliminated lame at the first vet-gate and one was retired.
The beach section on the blue loop, from about
the 55km distance point was spectacular for riders and spectators, gathered on
the sea-front promenade from about 1 hour before low tide. Trish described it
as uniquely exhilarating to see and experience 4kms of uninterrupted canter,
and with groups of horses visible way ahead in the distance and behind. Beccy
and Viniculture were clearly enjoying themselves as they cantered past us at
Jullouville. Unfortunately for Trish and her team, Madjin was spun, lame, at
the end of the blue loop having covered it at just under 18kph in a group about
30 minutes behind the lead horses.
45 combinations
started the red loop, with UAE and Bahraini riders in the lead group averaging
speeds around 20kph, and the back markers averaging speeds just over the
minimum 14kph. This technically difficult loop proved to be challenging for
many of the less experienced and fit horses. Even along the coast sections the
route was narrow in places with twists and turns, a variety of going from soft
grassy marshland to rocky and rutted tracks and climbs, and numerous proximate hazards,
including ditches, posts and fencing, sufficient to test any rider’s
concentration. 12 combinations were spun, or eliminated for riding slower than
the minimum speed of 14kph, at the end of this loop, including the UAE front
runner HH Sh. Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum. After a cumulated distance of 107kms,
the lead combinations commenced the last, green, loop at about 14:00hrs local
time, nearly 2 hours ahead of the back markers.
This time difference
proved critical, enabling those averaging above 16kph to reach the beach
section to the west of Dragey before the incoming tide completely covered the
firm wet sand, at about 15:00hrs local time. The slower combinations, with
horses already tired, were faced with an energy-draining traverse of the beach
section through deeper, dry sand. Beccy and Viniculture were one such
combination, and, sadly, were eliminated for not meeting the minimum speed. At
the finish, the first 5 places went to HH Sh. Hamdan bin Mohd Al Maktoum (UAE)
and Nikos, 20.712kph, Raed Mahmood (Bahrain) and Sandine Phoenix, 20.522kph,
Ahmed Al Hamdani (Oman) and Raffale De La Fageole, 18.364kph, Jaume Punti
(Spain) and Ramses De La Rotja, 18.362kph, and Brigitte Pinto (Portugal) and
Nita Lotoise, 18.048kph. HH Sh. Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa (Bahrain), who rode
at the Royal Windsor CEI 2* in May, should have been riding the second placed
horse but had to withdraw due to an injury before the race. A total of 27
combinations completed the ride successfully; 27 were spun during the
competition – 19 lame, 6 metabolic, and 2 lame and metabolic – plus 1 retirement
and 3 eliminations for failure to attain the minimum speed. Whilst this is a
relatively high attrition rate for a CEI 2* ride, many of the combinations
entered were not necessarily first choices of their riders or National
Federations for such a challenging course; they were there on fact-finding
missions, to assess the course, venue and crewing in preparation for next
year’s WEG; also, the European nations, at least, will have had their
competitive focus on the Open European Endurance Championship to be held at
Most, Czech Republic on 14th September, 2013.
Overall, this was a valuable and
successful test event for the 2014 WEG endurance competition. Vetting and
stewarding at the vet-gate and crew points were noticeably even-handed and
rigorous, as was adherence to the “no crewing with bottles of water” ruling.
This latter ruling prompted some interesting and imaginative interpretations on
what constitutes a “bucket” for sloshing horses on course, and every type of
water delivery container from standard buckets to jugs and watering-cans was
evident in the venue recovery area and at the crew points. These variants were
all accepted with good grace and humour, and the primary objective to avoid
littering the countryside with discarded water bottles and screw-caps was
achieved.
The Sports Organising Committee for
WEG Normandy 2014 has already signalled that the configuration of the venue at
the test event is not comparable to that envisaged for 28th August
2014. That is welcome news, but it is difficult to see how some downsides of
the venue location, routes and crew points may be addressed. Even with less
than 60 competing combinations, and access to the general public prohibited,
routes in and out of the venue, through Sartilly and on crew routes were
severely stressed on occasions. A part of this may have been coincidence of the
test event with one of France’s busiest “bridge” holidays, but there is very little
the OC can do to ease the situation when around 150 combinations are expected
to compete in 2014.
The OC welcomed the positive feedback
from competitors at the test event who appreciated the variety of challenges of
the course. These challenges will be greater for the WEG 2014 competition, with
an additional 31kms of course to add for the 160km CEI 4* ride, and with the
ride being 12days later, on 28th August. Daylight time (sunrise
07:18hrs to sunset 20:57hrs) for the 2014 ride will be 13¼hrs, with a ride time
at 20kph of about 11½hrs, and there will be a 12hr shift in the tides compared
to this year’s ride; daytime high tide will be at 09:30hrs and low tide will be
at 16:25hrs. Those differences suggest the course and the order of riding the
loops will not be the same as for the test event. The WEG 2014 endurance
competition promises to be very enjoyable indeed, and probably more open as a
team competition than any endurance World championship of the last 12 years.
For those interested
in attending the endurance at Sartilly and other discipline competitions of WEG
2014, from 24th August to 7th September, it is not too
early to start planning. Most of the events will be in Caen, on the south side
of the city close to the River Orne, at the Stade Michel d’Ornado and the Games
Village, comprising the Zenith Arena, Parc des Expositions and Hippodrome. The
eventing cross-country and dressage phases will be held in the beautiful estate
grounds of Le Haras du Pin chateau and the Le Pin National Stud. Argentan, due
south of Caen, is the closest town to Le Haras du Pin. Demonstration events for
Polo and Horse-Ball will be at Deauville, to the east of Caen, and St Lo, to the west.
Accommodation is likely to be at a
premium and booked up well in advance, because of the limited total number of
hotel beds in the area and WEG 2014 coincides with the end of the 70th
anniversary celebrations for D-Day; I am aware of hotels being fully booked
already. Fortunately, there are many Chambres d’Hôtes and campsites in this mid
and western part of Normandy; you will still need to make reservations well in
advance. For the endurance test event this year at Sartilly, local
accommodation between Granville, Avranches and Villedieu-les-Poêles was fully
booked. Although endurance is not as popular a “spectator sport” as many other
equestrian disciplines, it does have a hard-core of supporters and,
collectively, the competitors and support teams represent a large number of
people to accommodate in a rural area.
Travel to Normandy from the UK is
most conveniently accomplished by car and cross-channel ferry or tunnel to the
Normandy ports of Cherbourg, Caen (Ouistreham), Le Havre, and Dieppe, or to
Calais. Travelling around Caen by car is not easy with its one way systems,
limited direction signs and very limited parking, but it has good city centre
tram and bus services. Once in Normandy, there are auto-route connections
between Caen, St Lo, Deauville and Avranches, and Caen and Argentan.
Apart from the WEG
competitions, the area has attractions for all tastes, ranging from the
military history of the 1944 Normandy landings to the Bayeux tapestry to a walk
across the bay to le Mont-St-Michel from Genêts passing Rocher de Tombelaine.
For the fit and energetic, Normandy has an extensive network of long-distance
footpaths and cycleways, including in and through its towns and cities.
For further information on all that
Normandy and WEG 2014 have to offer consult:
With many thanks indeed to Martin for this excellent report and photo's, maybe I should be brushing up my O Level French for next year. Anyone else planning to go?
