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National Championships, etc.



Fresh blood folks...I often lurk here and haven't even
completed our first-ever 25 miler!  Have read alot of
complaints, suggestions and everything regarding these
NC Qualifications and have tried reading all or most
posts in light of someone eligible/not eligible. What
Jim has stated below seems to be a very REASONABLE set
of qualifications in going for the Nationals.  Been
trying to come up with something and when Jim's post
was read I said "that's it!"   I would definitely
support his suggestions as cited below.

Going back to lurking status,
Val and Sania


Hmmmm...now let's see....

How many $$$$ in REAL AERC funds do we spend on
International Riding and
what percent of the membership can participate? Was
the membership given
an opportunity for input on the use of these funds for
that purpose? 
Don't think so....but might I be wrong.

How many $$$ in REAL AERC funds do we spend on the NCR
and what percent
of the membership can particpate? Was the membership
given an
opportunity for input on the use of these funds for
this purpose?  If
memory serves (failing more each day) over 55% VOTED
to support this,
even tho no specific $$$ figure was mentioned.

OK, how about it?

Would someone on the BoD care to step up? The ones
I've asked seem to be
"tap dancing".  Maybe that's just my perception. How
about a REAL $$$
figure with a breakout of those funds? Or aren't we
privileged to know?

OK, let's say the AERC DOES support the NCR, both in
$$$$ and
otherwise...we don't HAVE to make a profit...we want
it to be the REAL
event that the membership voted for. We certainly
don't make a profit on
International. How about a fixed amount of $$$$ to a
Ride Manager who
sponsors a NCR AT LEAST equivalent to what we spend on
International? I
would like to see it prestigious enough that Ride
Managers are competing
to host it, without worrying about losing money.  I'm
not saying pay for
it, but subsidize it. As it gets better and better, we
eventually make
money on it. Isn't it normal (and acceptable) business
practice to
"promote" a new product or service the first year or
so even to the
point of taking a loss in order to make it successful?

As to qualifications, I don't care WHO I ride against.
 Letting the
finish line sort it out is OK by me, but that does not
make it a
"prestigious event".  That said, there were several
issues discussed
regarding qualifying that pointed out that it was
unfair nationwide
because of the length of the ride season, the number
of rides available,
etc.  It was also pointed out that not all riders ride
to win or Top
Ten...but just for miles. It was also generally agreed
by most that we
would like to emphasize "To Finish is to Win" and
reward those riders
with a lot of miles on the same horse. 

WE ALREADY HAVE A POOL OF THE TOP RIDERS IN AERC,
DIVIDED BY WEIGHT
DIVISION, THAT REPRESENTS THE TOP 5% IN EACH REGION BY
WEIGHT DIVISION
BASED ON THE AERC POINT SYSTEM. IT'S CALLED THE
REGIONAL AWARD PROGRAM. 

You can get a Regional Award by riding a few rides
fast, or a lot of
rides slow. You can't win a Regional Award by winning,
say two rides.
The top 5% of the riders in each region get a Regional
Award.   That
means that there will be more riders from the SE than
MT.  I think this
is a fair system, because the SE has more members. 

Ignoring the issue of when we make the qualifications
effective for now,
why don't we start with this pool of people, then add
some additional
ones that are imminently qualified for other reasons?

For example:

ANY National or Regional Award winners, whether it's
Pardners, Jim
Jones, etc.
Any horse/rider team with 1000 miles in the current
season.
Previous years Top Ten Horses/Riders in the NCR
Any Horse/Rider team that has WON a previous NCR.
Any Horse or Rider with 3000 miles with the horse or
rider of their
choice! <grin>
Any Hall of Fame Horse or Rider with the horse or
rider of their choice!
Top point horse/rider from Endurance Organizations.
(SERA, DBDR, etc) 
All AERC International Riders
IAHA NC Top Tens in each weight division. (How about
courting IAHA a
little bit and helping with prizes to get some
publicity. (They might
even help US if we recognize their winners)

Etc....

Bob Morris is, of course, automatically qualified for
life! :)

Nah....let's just forget it...just tired of going
around in circles with
the same old arguments. Haven't heard any new
proposals in so long my
mind is fuzzed...so thought I would write one. <sigh>

Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic



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