"true" endurance (or stupidity)!!

["Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>]

I was reading a great write up on the Tom Quilty Gold Cup Endurance Ride
held in Australia this last year (actually it was held on the island of
Tasmania, and changes each year) and came across a story that I'm sure
you'd all enjoy.  From the magazine, Arabian Focus:

". . . Terry Wood from Tooraweenah in western NSW started the ride with 13
Quilty buckles.  He was riding the 14-year old Arabian gelding,
Peppersfield Nabucco, the only horse in the ride to have previously won a
Quilty.  . . . The course was hard.  Terry Wood described it as 'the
hardest Quilty that I've done or seen in 24 years.'  One rider was heard to
remark there were so many rocks on the course, he didn't know why Tasmania
remained afloat!  Eight hours into the ride and in the lead, Terry Wood
headed out onto the fourth leg.  Cantering up a slope, he met a rider
walking his horse down on the wrong side of the track and the two collided.
 Terry took a tumble and Nabucco took off.  Remounted, but in intense pain,
Terry was joined by HW competitor, Ron Haigh.  Ron shepherded the injured
Terry back to base.  Massage from St. John Ambulance officers did little to
alleviate the pain, but, Terry was determined to continue on the final leg
of the ride.  He and Ron agreed to ride together, a partnerhsip which
resulted in a tie for the Quilty Cup.  After 11 hours and 11 minutes, the
two crossed the line, hands linked, to admiring applause.  As Barbara Timms
said, the sport is nothing if not character-building. . . .  Two days after
the ride, Terry Wood finally agreed to have an X-ray on his still painful
chest.  The verdict:  Seven broken ribs and a punctured lung."

Now that's what I call endurance (or stupidity)!! <vbg>