OD vs Tevis difficulty

["Michael K. Maul" <mmaul@flash.net>]

In response to:

For those who don't know, the OD is probably the toughest 
50 & 100 mile ride
on the East Coast.  Having spoken with folks who have 
done both the Tevis &
OD, they are different but the difficulty is comparable.  
The OD just doesn't normally have all the dust.  

********
Last year when I was crewing at Tevis - I was at Forest Hill
waiting for our horses and riders to come in and got to
talking to this "crusty older guy" sitting next to me who was
crewing for another person.  To make conversation - I asked 
about the relative difficulty of OD and Tevis.  He said that he 
had done both and thought OD was the more difficult depending on 
the conditions. I figured this was a long time ago.

I didn't have any idea who he was and not until later in the 
day did I figure out who this "crusty older guy" was.  Turned
out to be Matthew Mackay-Smith who had won both of the events
in 1995 on the same horse. Fantastic achievement.

So you have at least one informed persons view on it...

Mike Maul
W/CT Regions
Sunnyvale/Houston


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