Desde Euston Park, el Equipo Técnico de la RFHE, me remite unos reportajes de prensa, de muchos responsables de Equipos Nacionales de Raid, entre los que se encuentra Ignasi Casas por parte de España, así como por parte del Equipo USA, UAE, Sudafrica, Gran Bretaña, Lituania, Brasil, Australia, Italia, Ecuador, Francia, Dinamarca, Norway , etc.
Nos comentan todo lo relacionado con los equipos y los recorridos de mañana.
Esta es la nota de prensa:
LONGINES WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012
PRE-RIDE SOUNDBITES: 24 August 2012
Emmett Ross – Chef D’Equipe USA
“I
think we have some good horses but the competition is going to be very
tough, to earn an individual medal it will be very hard, we hope to be
in apposition to get a team medal.
“We have the right people and the right team and it requires a lot of strategy but we’re confident.
“We have many experience horses and many have done 100 milers, some have won the Tevis Cup.
“We’re
anxious about the vetting as our horses haven’t come yet! But they have
all been checked by our team vet so we are confident we should be fine
to pass this section of the race.
“There
is usually a 40% completion rate across the board and it is generally
spread across all of the teams but we are hoping for better than that.”
UAE - Mohammed Essa Al Adhab, Deputy General Manager, Dubai Equestrian Club
“The
UAE is very happy to be involved in this championship on a number of
levels and organisation and we wish all the athletes and teams a good
result. The UAE team is one of the strongest at this event and we hope
that we can achieve our target.”
USA - Carol Giles, US team selector
“We’re really excited about the race tomorrow. I think we have an outstanding team and we’ve set ourselves up to do really well.
“I
have seen some of the course and I think it is of course a little more
challenging than prior world championships, definitely more technical.
It is going to require more turns and gate changes. Riders with good
balance with their horse will have an advantage.
“We
do have some concerns about the weather and keeping the horses warm if
it does get wet and cold. Since the riders have been here they’ve not
managed to see any muddy conditions, so we’ll have to see how we cope if
it does get wet. It is a really great venue and we are really honoured
to be here. Everyone has been very helpful and welcoming and we had a
great view of the fireworks last night at the opening ceremony.”
South Africa - Eoné Willemse, 24, rider with My Wild Irish Gold
“I’m very excited about tomorrow. It’s a nice venue and the trail is well marked, it has some interesting turns to it too.
“From
what I have seen of the course it seems soft and nicely footed,
although tricky in some parts. The wildlife, venue and scenery are
lovely. I am really aiming for a good finish, so we’ll see how the day
shakes out.
“If
it does rain tomorrow, we’ll have to just pay attention to the horse
and make sure he is well balanced and doesn’t slip and slide.
“The
opening ceremony was wonderful. The fireworks and the horse show were
really something to watch. The entertainment was really well done.”
Great Britain – Tora Thomas, support team member
“The
opening ceremony was amazing, probably the best I’ve been to. It was
lovely how everyone mingled, it didn’t matter if you were a rider,
manager or organiser, it was really inclusive.
“The
nerves are beginning to build about the vetting this afternoon. Even if
you are totally happy with the horse, all it takes is the horse to step
one a stone and that ride is over before you’ve even started.
“It’s
a deceptive course, your first impression is that it is quite easy. But
there are a lot of different terrains and different going. So although
it’s flat everywhere apart from the Red route, what’s under foot is very
deceptive. You can be going over hard stoney stuff one minute but deep
sand the next. The river crossings are going to be slippery. There are a
lot of tree routes, twists, turns and banks. There are things to be
aware of every metre of the 160km. It is going to be a really true test
of horsemanship.
“Every
championship throws up something different. Last year at the Europeans
it was probably one of the most strenuous due to the elevation changes,
but the going under foot there was much m ore consistent, so you weren’t
having to look underfoot all the time. So I think we have been lucky
recently in that all of the championships have been true tests but in
different ways.”
Lithuania - Vidmastas Staskevicius, team vet
“For us it is very important to finish - to pass the first inspection and to enjoy taking part in the sport.
“We
have a very good farrier and special shoes, so we aren’t worried about
the rain that is forecast for tomorrow. We have been doing this sport a
lot of years so we are pretty confident.”
Australia – Peter Toft, chef d’equipe
“At
the start of the championships, the pre-ride vetting is going smoothly.
We’re amazed at the facility, it is all horse friendly. It is a world
championship and there is a lot of activity so the horses seem a little
apprehensive about that but it is a very exciting race coming up
tomorrow.
“The
parts of the course we’ve seen so far are really impressive. It’s a
true international course - it may be relatively flat but it is pretty
technical, so I expect it will produce a true champion.
“Australia’s
endurance at the moment is in a re-build phase, so we don’t have great
aspirations for the
“Our
training has been quite different this year as we’ve been training for
this particular event. We’ve got a lot of mountainous had courses, so
we’ve been trying to train on softer ground, to practice going faster
for longer.”
Italy - Simona Garrati [Badr Dell’Orsetta] – former Italian National Champion competing at her second world championship
“The
course and track look very good, it is the weather that could cause
difficulties for us. We are not predicting individual medals but are
aiming to have all four team horses home around the top 10.”
Japan – Kiyotaka Yaguchi, assistant chef d’equipe
“Japan
is not an advanced country in terms of the sport of endurance so our
goal tomorrow will be for all three of our team members to finish so
that we can complete the team event. Euston Park is a fast course and
lameness can be a factor but we want our horses to continue to the
finish so we have no intention of going too fast.”
Equador - Rafaella d’Arquea, 19, rider [Jqishma Beauty] competing at her first senior World Championship
“My
horse is from Uruguay and I have only been riding him for two months.
He is quite soft and sensible most of the time but doesn’t like to be
behind other horses – that’s when he goes crazy. At the start I will be
aiming to be in the middle of the field and then see how he goes. I have
not seen much of the track but from what I have seen, you have to use
your head.”
Brazil – Mauricio Bittar, team vet
“Our
team of horses and riders is very good. I am very proud of them they
have prepared well and I think there is every chance that we could have
our best world championship yet. This climate is ideal for us – a
British summer is the same as the Brazillian winter back home so we are
not worried about the weather – we are totally prepared.”
France - Phillippe Benoit, rider, previous gold medallist with the team in Portugal and Aachen (Akim de Boulve)
“This is my fifth time as a member of the French squad and I came 10th here
at the trial event last year so I am very determined. My horse is 14
and so it might be his last world championship so I would like to do it
for him. He has been very special, the horse of a lifetime. It will be
very difficult for us though because this is a very big championship
with some strong teams – the UAE, Qatar. I am pleased to be here – I am
now the only member of the French team not working full time as a rider –
in my other life I am a farmer.”
Denmark – Tanja Van Willigen, rider (Shajan)
“My
hope is to complete in the best possible time for my horse. This is a
very technical course with a high level of eliminations through lameness
in the past so you have to go carefully. For the last year I have been
doing aqua training with my horse – it has made him stronger and more
muscular. I have seen that when we are cantering over short distances we
are up to 1km faster than before. I am very excited about the start –
he is a strong horse who likes to run.”
Norway – Ellen Suhr, rider (Shah Nahim)
“I
was very pleased to pass my vetting this afternoon. I am nervous about
tomorrow as I think it will be difficult with so many people starting
all at once. I plan to chase the lead but go steady, just behind.
“I have only seen the training course, I don’t think the ground is the best so I have to be careful tomorrow.
“I
haven’t had much time to train as I have two small children, a one and a
half and three year old and work full time. So I try to train every
second day and the rest he goes in the horse walker.
“I
qualified in the Swedish championship I came second and got best
conditioned. Getting that result does make me confident for tomorrow but
I am very nervous of the start.
“My horse is quite excited at the moment so I am sending my husband out riding on him this evening.”
Spain – Ignasi Casas, Chef D’Equipe
“We
are quite confident as we have a lot of horses who have been doing very
well recently at big races, including the Europeans and here at Euston
Park last year.
“Three
of our riders are at a world championship for the first time, for two
of them it is their first international competition, but everyone is
excited and feeling confident.
“The
course is fast and tricky. Lots of turning and changes from grass to
track, it makes it difficult for the horse. You think you can go fast
but all the time you have to start and stop.
“We’ve
been practicing using tracks and making the horses change transitions.
Making them learn how to balance on tracks by cantering from grass over
tracks and back again.
“We
plan to push tomorrow and go for a good result - we would like to be
first! We’ve been first four times and the conditions are good so we
would like a win.”
ENDS.
Saludos de Gabriel.
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