Sunday 22 / December / 2024
Muscat: Battling extreme cold and damp weather conditions, Oman’s riders, His Highness Sayyid Loay bin Ghalib Al Said and His Highness Sayyid Ali Ghalib Al Said, successfully completed the Samorin Endurance Race over a distance of 120km in Slovakia recently.
The brothers, who have an excellent endurance racing record in recent times, are currently preparing for the FEI 2024 World Endurance Championship in Monpazier, France, in September. The world championship race will be over 160km.
This was the second of the five endurance races, the siblings are competing to qualify for the worlds next year. Both the riders ended up with good timings to complete the four-stage race.
While the first stage was over 40km, the second stage was run over 30km while the last two legs competed over 25km each.
Following the two races, the riders will now prepare for the third race in Germany.
At the Samorin event, riders from 16 countries from different countries of the world took part.
The Al Said brothers will now compete in the third endurance race in the German city of Buch that will be a 160km race.
Sayyid Loay said: “The primary aim to compete in Slovakia was to gain experience and complete the race. Though the conditions were very tough and challenging, we were able to complete the 120km race. So we are happy with the results and now we aim to do better in Germany.”
“The terrain we crossed during the race was thick forest and we experienced chilly weather with temperatures going down to 4 degrees. We also experienced rains making the track slippery and we had to be safe with our horses,” he added.
For Sayyid Ali, who is making his debut in an European 120km race, the experience was rewarding. The brothers thanked the Oman Equestrian Federation and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for their support as they prepare to compete in next year’s world championship.
