04/04/2007 INDEPENDENCE RIDE,
19 MARCH 2008 GOBABIS – NAMIBIA
Text Zelda von Schauroth
After a severe dry
year in 2007, Namibia was experiencing torrential rain in
most parts of the country from the beginning of February.
Although the biggest part of Namibia is a desert, these
extreme peaks in weather conditions are not abnormal, most
probably enhanced by global warming as well.
Rain is always a
welcome sight in Namibia but from a course design point of
view, a wet, soggy course poses its own challenges. Unlike
riders from other parts of the world, Namibian riders are
accustomed to dry courses and conditions. The course of
160km was designed around the Kalahari town of Gobabis with
a few river crossing being part of the course. In Namibia
the word river takes on a new meaning: in Namibia a river
does not necessarily have water in it, we distinguish
between dry rivers and full rivers. Not knowing what the
weather would do on the day of the event, the organizing
committee needed back up plans should the rivers flood on
the day of the event.
Expectations were
met when the 160km riders departed at 05:00am on a dry
course without any threatening clouds on the horizon. In
the 160km there were two divisions; senior standard weigh
and a senior heavy weight. These weight divisions were also
applicable on the 127km event. The minimum weight for the
heavy weight division is 95kg. Two riders entered the 160km
heavy weight division, Jan Pienaar from Namibia and Bernard
Dornsiepen , a well know rider and Chef d’Equipe from
Germany. Jan Pienaar is a respected horse breeder in
Namibia and has exported many horses to the UAE. Despite
Jan Pienaar weighing in at 108kg, he had an excellent ride
and maintained an average speed of 14,9km p/h. His gelding,
home bred Enduro Moonshine, was in top condition and also
won best conditioned. Bernard Dornspienen on a mare,
Armin’s Zalina, bred by Armin van Biljon, rode cautiously
and was determined to finish the ride and managed to do so
averaging an average speed of 13,6 km p/h.
Ten riders entered
the 160km standard weight event, including two riders from
South Africa and Dr. Claudia Bretthauer from Germany. Only
4 riders completed the ride. High humidity and high
temperatures took its toll. Two riders were eliminated
after gate 3 and four riders were eliminated after gate 4,
one rider being eliminated after a control weight check.
Stefanus Pienaar on his gelding Shaiks Fire, bred by his
father Jan Pienaar, took the lead from the fist loop.
Suentte Nel from South Africa rode Asad, a stable mate of
Shaiks Fire and the two horses performed well together.
Sheiks Fire gained the lead by having a shorter slip time
than Asad. Stefanus and Sheiks Fire won the event and also
best conditioned, finishing in 9:11:25. In the mean while a
tough competition developed between the two South Africans,
Suenette Nel and Naomi Muller. Nel finished in second place
and Muller in third place.
The 127km Junior
Young rider event had the most entries for the day, totally
19. One should never forget that it is not abnormal in
Namibia to travel 1000km by road to get to an event. Most
Namibian riders compete in a maximum of three FEI rides per
year. Two of these rides are part of a Tri-Nation
competition between Namibia, South Africa and Botswana and
riders compete within a team scenario – under instruction
from the Chef d’Equipe with not much decision making by the
riders themselves. However, the Independence ride is an
individual ride and riders are left to the own game plan.
This is where the young riders are keen to show their muscle
and dominancy, provided their mounts can keep the pace. All
six horses that were eliminated from gate 1-5 were
eliminated for lameness. The course had a variety of
surface ranging from soft sand to hard and rocky parts but
with a low altitude difference.
The course was a
clover leaf design, with all loops ending and starting at
the base camp at the show grounds of the town. The
disadvantage was that the first few kilometers of each loop
were very close to town. This resulted that the local
population continuously removed some of the route markers
and caused quite a bit of confusion amongst the Young riders
whom were the first to depart on the last three loops.
Schierschmidt, van Zyl and von Schauroth were the first
three riders to depart on the last loop. Nell, a few
minutes behind in fourth place, was not keen on a flat race
finish and tried to catch up on the first three riders.
Before she could catch up with them, they had taken a wrong
turn-off due to the removal of a route marker. When the
three riders returned to the point where they made the
mistake, Nell had already passed them. Nell, not knowing
that the “leaders” were behind her, still tried to catch up
on them. She pulled all stops on her willing mare, Henham
Zahara, which took her flying over the finish line, well in
advance of the other three. Speed paid its toll when she
was eliminated after gate 5 and Henham Zahara was lame.
Schierschmidt and van Zyl followed in flat race style and
after them came von Schauroth and Bolleurs in the same
manner. The spectacular finish of the young riders always
seems to be adrenaline induced. Schierschmidt on Rodny won
the first place as well as best conditioned.
Of the nine entries
for the 127 km standard weight, only two horses were
eliminated, one horse at gate one and one horse at gate
five. The competition was calm at first but as the race
progressed Wiese on Nugget gained a few minutes lead. She
was determined not to lose the lead and averaged nearly 29km
p/h on the last loop, winning Morris Steenkamp by 11
minutes. Steenkamp, who kept a very even pace throughout
the day, increased his speed to 22km p/h on the last loop to
arrive 20 minutes before Hannelie Coetzee on Washer.
Morris Steenkamp on Egypt was awarded the best conditioned.
The 127km senior
heavy weight had two entries and two finishers. Jannie
Wiese on Amigo won this division with Kallie Grunschloss,
President of the Namibian Endurance Ride Association, in
second place.
The day turned out
to be very successful with a high finish rate. And most of
all the rain stayed away. The day was also celebrated by the
Pienaar and Wiese families, having a father and son win for
the Pienaars ( 160km heavy and standard weight) and a
husband and wife win for the Wieses ( 127km standard and
heavy weight).
OTJIVERO BIED
INDEPENDENCE UITHOURIT AAN.
Otjivero Uithourit Klub van Gobabis het op
23 Maart die Independence rit aangebied. Daar was ruiters van
oor Namibie. Sue en Dennis Summers van Amerika, Herman van
Rooyen van Engeland, Suenette Nel, GD Kotze, Solette Lubinge,
Nicolla Coetzee E Kuhn en M Eksteen van Suid-Afrika het ook die
rit gery. 84 perde en ruiters het ingeskryf vir die rit en 77
het die rit voltooi. Die borge van die dag was BANK
WINDHOEK, GOBABIS DIENSSTASIE, HASHABEH ARABIANS, MNR MIKE
BREDENKAMP en VOERMEESTER wat die medaljes geborg het.
BES VOORBEREIDE PERD TOEKENNING:
YOUNG RIDER: Schalk Burger op Dei
Gratia, Snr standard gewig: Ronelle Greeff op Motaza,
Snr swaargewig: Louis de Kock op Le Wardi Daneska.
Wenner 123.9km Young Rider - Schalk Burger
met Dei Gratia, Snr standard gewig: Ronell Greeff met Motaza,
Snr swaargewig: Rudolf Oosthuizen met Danesca Rynheath. 160.7
km Young rider: Carolien Vaessler met Armins Zebeda, Snr
standard gewig: Louis de Kock met Le Wardi Deneska en Snr swaar
gewig – Piet van Rooyen met Kanab Tsaar.
