Tag Archives: FEI World Endurance Championships

Jaume Punti Dachs Takes Spain to Team and Individual Gold

Jaume Punti Dachs (Miro Nota)

Lausanne (SUI), 17 September 2016 – In a day of weather that changed as often as the ride leaders, Spain’s Jaume Punti Dachs captured individual gold and led his compatriots Alex Luque Moral and Angel Soy Coll to the team title at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 in Samorin (SLK).

Punti Dachs, who also took team and individual gold at the European championships at the Samorin venue 12 months ago, had a perfect ride on the nine-year-old grey Twyst Maison Blanche to complete the 160km track in 06:46:42 with an average speed of 23.60 km/h.

Fellow Spaniard Alex Luque Moral and Calandria, the lovely 10-year-old grey mare that deservedly took the best conditioned horse award, were 50 seconds off the pace to take individual silver, with Bahrain’s HH Sheikh Nasser Bin Al Kalifa taking bronze with Waterlea Dawn Treader in a time of 06:49:47.

The Spanish led an all-European team podium, with France taking silver and the Netherlands holding on for bronze.

The track, which ran between the river Danube and the neighbouring canal, as well as through forestry and farmland, was flat and fast and the 134 starters set off at pace from the 6am mass start.

Punti Dachs was consistently in the top 10 over the first four loops, and the 47-year-old, who was a team gold medallist over the challenging Sartilly terrain at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy (FRA), ended his day with a flourish to scoop double gold and add the world title to his European crown. His wife Maria Alvarez Ponton, who was vetted out after the second loop, previously held the two titles concurrently after winning European and world gold in 2009 and 2010.

Twyst Maison Blanche wasn’t the first horse across the finish line, but the final vet check is the real finish line and when both the United Arab Emirates runners, Napoli Del Ma (Saif Ahmad Al Mazroui) and Quran El Ulm (Ganem Abdullah Al Merri) were vetted out and Uruguay’s LG Muneerah wasn’t presented by Jonatan Rivera Iriarte, top honours went to Punti Dachs.

In fact none of the UAE team recorded a completion score, even though HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum and Ramaah had been at the head of the field throughout, until the 12-year-old gelding went out at the fourth vet gate. Sadly, Ajayeb, the 15-year-old chestnut mare ridden by Sheikh Hamdan’s team mate Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum, tripped and fell on the fourth loop of the track, suffering an irreparable injury to her right front leg and had to be euthanised.

“It was a very tough day,” Punti Dachs said. “There were magnificent horses in front of me, but endurance sometimes happens like this. You do everything right and then something goes wrong. It’s like life.”

It’s been something of a winning spree for Spain as their all-female team won the European Endurance Young Riders and Juniors Championships in Portugal earlier in the month.

Alex Luque Moral was thrilled to take team gold and individual silver in Samorin. “I slowed down to save my horse after the first fast loop, and then for the last loop, I decided to really have fun with my mare and show everyone what she could do after all the training for this championship.”

Angel Soy Coll, whose sixth-place finish sealed Spain’s victory, said: “I am very happy and very grateful to have been part of the team. It was a tough day but think I managed to do what was expected of me and my horse and get a good result for the Spanish team.”

Bronze medallist HH Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the only non-European on the podium, trained the 11-year-old Waterlea Dawn Treader for the championships at home in Bahrain and France. “The race was very difficult especially the third loop because of the humidity. I believed in my plan and it worked. My horse was not tired at all; he was perfect.”

See final Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 scores: www.wech2016.com.

By Pamela Burton

Media Contacts:

Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016:

Martin Simonedes
martin.simonides@x-bionicsphere.com
+421 911 197 146

FEI:

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145

Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 – Slovakia Welcomes Record 46 Nations

Athletes pictured here at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2012 in Euston Park (GBR). (FEI/Henry Browne)

Lausanne (SUI), 15 September 2016 – A record 46 nations will contest the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 this Saturday (17 September), with the world’s top Endurance athletes already on-site at Slovakia’s state-of-the-art Šamorín Equestrian Centre, brain-child of Slovakian businessman Mario Hoffmann.

A total of 136 horse/rider combinations will head out on the 160-kilometre track in a 6am mass-start, with five loops of 40, 35, 35, 30 and 20kms running across grass, field and forest tracks alongside the River Danube and skirting around Bratislava at the foot of the Little Carpathians mountain range.

The youngest competitor at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships is 14-year-old Pilar Saravia from Uruguay. Currently ranked number three in the world, she won her first 3* 160km ride on home soil in July, with her second 3* 160km win in Buenos Aires just two weeks later.

Saravia and the grey mare SM Dhanderiega, her winning ride in Buenos Aires, will be flying the flag for the seven South American countries at these Championships, challenging the world’s most seasoned Endurance athletes for a podium spot.

The United Arab Emirates claimed team gold and all three individual medals at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2012 in Euston Park (GBR), as well as team, individual silver and bronze at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky (USA).

HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, who took individual gold at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy (FRA), team gold in 2012 and individual bronze in 2010, will lead a team of five at this year’s Championships in Šamorín, including 2010 and 2012 fellow team member Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum.

Spain’s Endurance “armada” is also looking formidable for these Longines Championships. Maria Alvarez Ponton, current world Endurance number one – who famously won individual gold at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2010 seven weeks after giving birth to Maria, the first of her two daughters, and in doing so became the first Endurance athlete to hold both World and European titles at the same time – will be competing with her husband and Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 gold medal winning team-mate Jaume Punti Dachs.

He last led Spain to team gold at the FEI European Championships in Šamorín in October last year. They are joined by their 2015 European Championships team member Alex Luque Moral, 2009 European Championships team gold medalist Silvia Yebra Altimiras and Angel Soy Coll, who finished second at the Spanish Endurance Championships in Badajoz in April of this year.

France, who celebrated double Olympic success in Rio with team golds in Eventing and Jumping, will be bringing their samba passion to Šamorín. Jean Philippe Frances, who led France to Endurance team silver at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014, and to silver again at last October’s European Championships where he also won individual bronze, will lead a team of five. His successful partnership with 10-year-old gelding Secret de Mon Coeur (Secret of my Heart), which claimed the Best Condition award at last year’s European Championships, will continue in Šamorín.

“We have the best Endurance athletes on the planet competing in the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships on Saturday,” said FEI Endurance Director Manuel Bandeira de Mello.

“The world’s top Endurance athletes get to compete at this level only every two years, at either the World Endurance Championships which coincide with the Olympic cycle, or at the FEI World Equestrian Games.

“Endurance is the fastest growing FEI discipline and at Šamorín we have 46 out of a total of 53 countries currently involved in international Endurance competitions. We’re all looking forward to seeing these athletes showcase this incredible sport, which is a real test of the partnership between horse and rider, and the ability to cross all kinds of terrain.”

Definite entry list: http://inside.fei.org/fei/events/championships/endurance/2016 (see “list of entries” section).

Opening Ceremony on FEI YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/2cK3zps – 15 September, starting at 20.00 local time.

Live FEI TV action on www.feitv.org – 17 September, from 05.50 local time.

Live scoring: www.wech2016.com.

Media Contacts:

Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016:

Martin Simonedes
martin.simonides@x-bionicsphere.com
+421 911 197 146

FEI:

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145

USEF Announces Team for the 2016 Longines FEI World Endurance Championships

Lexington, Ky. – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) is pleased to announce the combinations that will represent the United States at the 2016 Longines FEI World Endurance Championships in Samorin, Slovakia, September 16-17, 2016. They will be led by U.S. Endurance Chef d’Equipe Mike Dial.

The following athlete-and-horse combinations will represent the U.S. in the 2016 Longines FEI World Endurance Championship (listed in alphabetical order):

Thomas Hagis (Fries, Va.) and his own Indian Reinman, a 2006 Arabian gelding

Ellen Olson (La Motte, Iowa) and her own and Jeremy Olson’s Bey Gibby, a 2001 Arabian gelding

Dr. Margaret Sleeper (Frenchtown, N.J.) and her own Shyrocco Rimbaud, a 2006 Anglo Arabian gelding

Find out more about the 2016 Longines FEI World Endurance Championships.

From the USEF Communications Department

Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 Allocated to Slovakia

Lausanne (SUI), 15 June 2016 – The Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 will be held in Samorin (SVK) following a decision at Tuesday’s FEI Bureau monthly teleconference meeting. A unanimous proposal from the FEI Endurance Committee recommending the Slovakian venue received the support of the full Bureau.

Three bids to host the Championships were received when the bid process was reopened in April of this year following the decision to reallocate the event. Also bidding were Fontainebleau (FRA) and San Rossore, Pisa (ITA), but the Bureau ruled that neither of these two venues were suitable due to concerns over welfare and safety. Both venues proposed mid-October dates, meaning that the rides would start and finish in the dark, potentially putting horses and riders at risk. There is also increased potential for heavy rain in these areas at that time of year.

Samorin Equestrian Centre, the brain-child of Slovakian businessman Mario Hoffmann, staged very successful FEI European Endurance Championships last year. The 2016 World Championships will run from 15-18 September, with the qualification period ending on 16 July.

The Championships had originally been allocated to Dubai and were scheduled to be held in December of this year, but at its spring in-person meeting on 6-7 April, the FEI Bureau voted to remove the Championships from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as it felt that the UAE National Federation is not currently in a position to guarantee that horse welfare would be fully protected.

“We were very happy to receive three bids and appreciate the willingness to support the FEI at such short notice for this year’s World Championships,” FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said, “but the Bureau had no hesitation in opting for Samorin. Horse welfare has to be the most important element in the allocation of these major events and Samorin has a proven track record, having already run both the young horse and European Endurance Championships very successfully.

“The timing of the Championships was also important and, with the three bids all coming from Europe, the Bureau felt that a September date was more appropriate. Both Fontainebleau and San Rossore were proposing mid-October when the reduced daylight hours could potentially have an impact on safety. Safeguarding the safety and welfare of the equine and human athletes is our top priority in all our disciplines.”

Driving Championships

Additionally, the Bureau allocated the FEI World Driving Championships for Young Horses 2016 to Mezöhegyes (HUN). The Championships, which were reallocated following the withdrawal of original host venue, Conty (FRA), will run from 8-11 September.

FEI Media Contacts:

Grania Willis
Director Press Relations
grania.willis@fei.org
+41 787 506 142

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145