 |
RE: [RC] Disappearing 100's & Race of Champions - heidiNo, the 100-mile award only counts 100-milers. The overall points championship counted all of your rides, just as your regional championships do. But one earns more points for 100s. The one and only year I made the national standings was the year that I did four 100s--but I did over 1000 miles, so the points for all the rest of those rides counted, too. Enduring the season and pacing one's self and one's horse, knowing that one must not only be "fit to continue" but also fit to ride again in a week or two is to me the ultimate challenge of the sport and the ultimate challenge of the meaning of endurance, even beyond the "ultimate ride challenge" which is the 100-mile distance. If our sport has been "wussified" (as a previous thread suggested) I would submit that it is this challenge which has been removed. When one's goal was to keep going all season, one had to be careful of risk-taking with one's horse, because a foolish mistake in the heat of the competition this weekend might put you out of the next ride, or the next few rides, or the rest of the season. To many of us, the ability to manage that risk and keep one's horse sound and healthy all year was the mark of a true champion--not the ability to win one ride. It is also the hallmark of our sport, that to finish is to win--a true champion need not win the individual ride, but could ride fairly competitively and FINISH ride after ride after ride.
Heidi
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|