ENDURANCE riders gathered at Ararat Lodge on the Colo River on the deluged weekend of May 2-3 to pit themselves against the weather, the terrain and the clock to ride their horses 100 kilometres.
Rain for most of the previous week did little to improve conditions and on Saturday it showed little signs of easing.
Despite this, 47 riders rose before dawn to head out at 5am on Sunday to cover what can only be described as a challenging course under the best of conditions.
With some road closures due to flooding, the course had to be changed at the last minute.
Horses were slipping and sliding on the bitumen and then had to negotiate a steep climb to the powerlines on the gravel section of Comleroy Road.
A vet check at 40km resulted in several horses being deemed unfit to continue, due to lameness.
Leading from the start was Con Bouzianis from Mulgoa riding Conderosa Pegasus (who performed as if he had wings) handling the difficult terrain with ease.
Another testing climb to Mountain Lagoon took its toll and some riders decided not to ‘elevate’ to 100km, having had enough after 80km.
The rain eased around lunchtime, and Con and Pegasus romped home.
They covered the 100km in seven hours, taking out the Best Conditioned Horse award in the Heavyweight division.
Second in the Heavyweight division was Alan Mackinder from Blaxlands Ridge riding Jezabelle Sweet Dreams, while first in the Lightweight division was April Newman and her mare, Tarnette, coming in at seven hours, 42 minutes.
On June 5 – 7, the Hawkesbury will host the 50th anniversary of the 160km Tom Quilty Gold Cup, starting from Del Rio at Wisemans Ferry.
More than 400 horses are expected. It was first held in the Hawkesbury in 1966.
