Re: CIRCUIT RIDER--The Ride Where It Snowed!

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

Thanks to all 43 of the stalwart riders who geared up for the dire predictions
by the weatherman and came to Circuit Rider anyway!  Yep, it snowed--in fact,
it snowed A LOT!  What was predicted earlier to be a couple of inches,
clearing during the day on Saturday, and then possibly some more in the
afternoon turned into 5 or 6 inches on the upper part of our trail, with
continuing snow off and on during the day until the upper part finally sported
boot-high accumulations for the brave 80's on their second time around.  (Kind
of made a mockery of my Friday night trip out to lime the intersections, but
we had put up LOTS of ribbons just in case, and everybody managed to find the
trail in spite of it all...)  Most folks came well prepared with all-weather
gear, and managed to minimize the discomfort--sure gave the word ENDURANCE an
entirely new meaning...  Thanks to our vet check crew who kept plying the
riders with hot chocolate and hot dogs, and to all who brought extra horse
blankets that were available to all up there.  We kept the bonfires burning,
and I think most managed to have a pretty good time, in spite of it all.  The
ride fell on my birthday this year, so we ate cake around the bonfire before
we handed out awards--if a party is defined as a gathering of friends, then
certainly it is appropriate to manage a ride on a birthday, where one's
friends congregate.

Hubby (bless him) rode the ride but rode last to pull ribbons on the second
loop where we cannot go in a vehicle--his hands more or less resembled ice
cubes, but he said if he had to haul a horse out to pull those ribbons, he
might as well get mileage credit for it...  (Now THAT's dedications for ya!)

A few other interesting tidbits from the ride--we had one rider all the way up
from Tennessee!  Glad to meet Teresa Mascaro.   This was a milestone for Sara
Miller, who finished her career 7000 miles--congratulations to Sara, who was
last year's PNER Ambassador Award winner, because she is always so helpful to
ride managers and riders.  And also congratulations to our 80-mile winner
Becky Fiedler on BRR Aurber Lights--looks like they will be our 1998 PNER
Champions!  Must say, it is always nice to see a PNER Champion who can turn in
such a spiffy winning time at the end of the season and still rate a 495 vet
score on his BC judging, even after a long season and after running the
fastest overall time on our LWT multi-day just 2 weeks ago.

Here are the results:

On the 50-miler, we had 32 starters and 29 finishers:

1.  Pat Murray                     Flash Gordon               4:08
2.  Diane Pixlee                   Articus                        4:08
3.  Paula Rasler                  Blu Sumr Luv                4:21
4.  Dennis Harris                 Dusty                           4:21
5.  Kathy Hanson                Gailastra                      4:25
6.  Tim Hanson                    Nicholas                      4:25  BC
7.  Lew Hollander                Miss P                         4:27
8.  Staci Lewis                    Diamond Knight            4:29
9.  Marie Frankenburger       Tsea Sahruk                 4:42
10.  Jeri Frankenburger         Rudy Jack                   4:42  (1st Jr, Jr
BC)
11.  Nance Cooper               Wusa                          4:45
12.  Fred Bushby                 Alyeska                      4:45
13.  Mary Brobeck               Opus                           4:45
14.  Lee Dowers                  Procentt                       5:02
15.  Hanne Hollander            Nick                            5:24
16.  Shannon Bebeau           Shasta                        5:24
17.  Bobbi Jo Ogren             GMF Myorka                5:24
18.  Anna Sampson             Mikie                           5:24
19.  Caitlin Skaggs              Magic Gold                  6:25  (2nd Jr)
20.  Lacy Oviatt                   Dew's Shaywin             6:25  (3rd Jr)
21.  Jo Whitlow                   KKO's Majestic            6:25
22.  Susan Griffin                 OMR Countdown         6:47
23.  Joe Griffin                     OMR Fred                   6:47
24.  Mike Rosenbush           Entrigue FF                6:47
25.  Sara Miller                    MHL Dominatorr          6:47
26.  Dawna Bynum-Boyd      Red October               7:16
27.  Vickie Patterson            Prince Kashadah        8:15
28.  Ramona Thacker           Candidates Pashon     8:22
29.  Paul Pedersen              Aur Bold Tribute          8:38

Pulls:
Cassidy Hornbeck                Mini Mouse  (Jr)
Lori Bertolucci                     Rikky
Beth Skaggs                       Taboo Sioux

On the 80-miler, 11 brave souls started, and 9 finished:
1.  Rebecca Fiedler             BRR Aurber Lights        7:25
2.  Trine Madsen                  Zor                              7:25 BC
3.  Roxi Anderson               Hal's Me Tourmaline      8:17
4.  Teresa Mascaro             Tory                             8:17
5.  Victoria White                MC Missing Link           9:00
6.  Lois Fox                        Rowdy                         9:23
7.  Cynthia Peticolas-Stroud  Call Me Annie            10:16
8.  Ray Whitlow                   Malik Mahbee             10:16
9.  Sarah Franklin                MC Gentry                  10:16 (1st Jr, Jr
BC)

Pulls:
Kelsey Johnson                  Fire Mtn. Smokila    (Jr)
April Battles                       CS Khaliente