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[RC] Allegany Shut Up and Ride (NY) / Results - RISTREEHello folks!Hurricane Frances popped by and dropped 5.5" on the Salamanca/Bradford area last Wednesday. I'd been carelessly bragging about how wonderfully dry and smooth the trails were becoming with the stint of dry weather, so I do believe it is all my fault. As we arrived at camp on Thursday, there were several roads flooded and a part of the Allegany State Park road was washed away a few miles from ridecamp. Thankfully not between the gate and our trails ... Fortunately, Friday cleared fairly quickly and the impromptu creeks and ponds had an opportunity to drop before the majority of riders arrived. Riders from Maine to Virginia to Ohio and from Canada were entered, with a HUGE variety of breeds represented -- the usual gray Arabian geldings, but also Apps and gaited horses and TBs galore and even one Clydesdale cross. The ride was full, and the riders were FANTASTIC about squeezing in like aluminum and steel and equine and awning sardines! Buck Shrader kept cheerful order in camp, and his wife Donna worked on her suntan directing rigs into the sardine can. Family and friends scurried about preparing for the next day's start, likely trying to avoid me as I have a penchant for the fine art of delegation. The nights were clear and starlit and both Saturday and Sunday were bright and sunny, with cool mornings and warmish afternoons. A far cry from our inaugural ride last year, when the ground was frosty and the riders were bundled up like equestrian eskimos. It is easy to tell the difference between last year's photos from Kathryn Rogers (Sweet Meadow Arts) and this year's! Drs. Stan Alkemade, Mark McConnon and Jeanette (Jay) Mero were determined that, like last year, we'd have few pulls and no treatments if we could help it. The riders cooperated fully, taking excellent care of their mounts. The ride meeting went smoothly, with Nancy Walker (that smart aleck!) asking what grade of elementary school I teach. I clarified that nay, I was an OSHA trainer (close enough), and we proceeded on with the trail description. Four loops, all out of base camp, and not a one of them without a significant climb (or three or four). That darned Gene Zanot told me after the ride that this course is tougher than Elk Valley! Saturday saw 35 starting in the 50, and 6 heading out in the two day 100. Claire Godwin led the pack in the 50 from the get-go with Samtastic, completing in 7:02, and also BCed. Twenty-nine completed, with all of the pulls for minor lamenesses or rider options. On the last loop we had trail sabotage, unless there is a new native animal in Allegany which shreds not only paper plates, but also splinters up wooden stakes. Fortunately, not a single rider got lost. Huge sighs of relief for hub and me! Quickly got that fixed up, and I think a number of riders were kept on course by Earle Baxter, who alerted them to the problem as he passed in the other direction. By Sunday, three riders had decided not to head back out for the 100, leaving three. Diana Chartier, with Fast Dance Sam, hauled eleven hours from Maine with just her horse and dog, and other than some good Samaritans, had no crew. She completed the 100 in 16:29 and captured BC as well. In Sunday's Limited Distance (26 miles), 20 started and 17 completed. Again, we were relieved that the pulls were all minor issues and rider options. Since we don't do BC, one of our vet scribes (and an OCTRA Lay Vet), Bri Henderson picked a "Looking Good" award winner, the horse that appeared most metabolically fit and sound at the finish of the ride, regardless of completion time. Bev Laux (PA) was thrilled to accept the award for her Missouri Fox Trotter, Gunsmoke's Lacey Lady, who was coming back from a fracture injury! Another unique award for our LDs was the Good Time Charlie award, going to the horse and rider pair appearing to be having a seriously good time. It was obvious that Marlene Shaffer was the winner on this one; we practically had to send her out on another loop at the end because she was simply having too much fun. She made this Ride Manager snort a Mike's Hard Lemonade out her nose creating merriment after the awards ceremony. Runner up for this award was Kathy Calanni and her 22 year old Little Peeples -- rides filled with Marlenes and Kathys would make Ride Managers giggle in delight! Amazingly, at least a half dozen of the LD finishers were novice riders and/or novice horses. All made it in ECTRA time as well as AERC time, and I think I got most of them to promise to come back next year. For the fifty! In Sunday's 50, eleven started, ten completed. Amanda Parsons with Patriot Games was way out in front for this one, and took BC as well, in 6:57. (This ain't New Jersey!) It was her first Top Ten! By the time Sunday's awards rolled around, a few beers had been popped, and I felt as tho I was amongst good friends, simply celebrating one another's successes. Perhaps that idyllic feeling was delirium brought on by exhaustion, but I enjoyed it anyway. Thanks to every single rider who came for being so kind to my volunteers, the HAM radio operators who checked on them on course, the not-so-thrilled family camping in the group camp which just happens to sit in the middle of a designated horse trail, and a chunk of the staff who was also my family. My father reminded me again this year that he knows why I dumped competitive dressage for endurance -- it's the people! The paperwork is done. The trailer is half cleaned out. I think I figured out who most of the borrowed coolers belong to. My dogs are glad to have me back home. And already the wheels are turning for Allegany Shut Up and Ride 2005. Thanks to everyone! --Patti Stedman (and long-suffering husband and Trail Demi-God, Richard)
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