[RC] AHA 100 mile Championship winning time - LOUISE BURTON
I, like Meghan, have ridden and won this ride several times. I won the 50 last year in 5:50 which was a course record. Amber, my daughter won it Tues in 5 hr flat. Why? The trails are that much wider and you are able to go faster. She put Baluga in his 12 mph trot for the entire ride. I told the RM this spring that the winners of this ride would beat my 'record time' by at least an hour, and that was only because they ride so fast. If you have not ridden with some of these riders you may not understand they RUN almost the entire ride. My mare does not lope, she runs, and I'm guessing I ran at least 2/3 of the ride. The footing was excellent. The horses were amazing. The top five stood for Best Condition Wed and they all looked like they could go out and do it again!
Louise Burton and Am I Blue+/ (aka Ducky)
Louise Burton Firedance Farms Endurance Arabians http://pages.prodigy.net/firedancefarms
--- On Thu, 10/29/09, Jonni <txtrigger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Jonni <txtrigger@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [RC] AHA 100 mile Championship winning time To: "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 11:22 AM
quote: The winning time was 8 hrs and some change.. didn't catch all of it. This is a hard course, definitely NOT a flat track.."
I have ridden at Lake Carl Blackwell, and find it difficult to believe that winning time. That is really flying. Glancing at past 100 mile winning times, that was the kind of speed FITS had for the FEI ride. My gut feeling is, the course was not a true 100. Just typing out loud..... as I was not there. While there are some trails there that are faster, more open, but if they used any of the more technical trail, no way could they have done those speeds in the woods and still have their knee caps. Jonni
