The Slower Road

Two of the Americans on yesterday’s marathon course at the World Singles Championship (Italy):

Donna Crookston (photo by Karen Garrett)

Bill Peacock (photo by Karen Garrett)

We’ll have more photos later!

Photos of a few of yesterday’s marathon obstacles at the Iron Horse CDE (Illinois):

marathon obstacle #1 at the Iron Horse CDE (photo by Jill Ryder)

obstacle #3 (photo by Jill Ryder)

obstacle #7 (photo by Jill Ryder)

World Singles Championship, report from Karen Garrett:

Team standings after the marathon . . .

Germany is still first on a total score of 229.38. Switzerland moved into second place on 246.37, and The Netherlands dropped to third by less than a point on 246.75. Denmark is close on their heels in fourth place with 249.72. Austria is in fifth with 250.45, France in sixth place with 252.35, Italy in seventh with 255.60, Poland in eighth with 258.37, Finland in ninth with 266.96.  Sweden has moved into tenth place with 271.92, and the USA dropped to twelfth place with 282.91.

The top individuals are Thorsten Zarembowicz of Germany with a ten-point lead over Cristiano Cividini of Italy. The scores for the competitors in second to tenth place are quite close. Cividini has a total of 118.42, and Christoph Dieker in tenth has a score of 124.86. The battle for the ribbons will be quite exciting!

The cones course is 625 meters and the time allowed is 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Iron Horse CDE (Illinois), report from Jill Ryder:

The marathon is now over! The weather was cloudy all morning and gradually got hotter and hotter and then the sun came out. The intermediate horses were coming in warm and so the decision was made to allow two more mintes in Section E.

The four-in-hand competitors all finished the course except for Casey Zubek (in third place after dressage). He did obstacles 1, 2, and 3, and then went on course into the woods on the way to obstacle 4. But he didn’t come out of the woods! Apparently there was a Y in the course and Casey missed the tree in the Y but his wheeler caught the tree and broke harness, and he was done.

Chester Weber had a groom down in obstacle 1, for ten penalty points, otherwise he would have won the marathon instead of finishing in fourth place. He is still, however, in the lead in the overall standings for the CDE. Josh Rector won the marathon and remains in second place overall.

World Singles Championship (Italy), report from Karen Garrett:

The marathon is over, and I am happy to report there were no accidents, although four competitors were eliminated and one retired. The tricks in the obstacles caught out several of the American competitors. Donna Crookston missed the F gate in obstacles 5 and 6 and was eliminated. Robin Groves had a correction of course in obstacle 1 when she went through D backwards and incurred a twenty-point penalty. Bob Koopman had three knockdowns.

The multiple changes of rein required in most of the obstacles resulted in much twisting and turning to take the inside routes, and a number of the horses were noticeably slowing down toward the end.

Beau, Bill Peacock’s horse, ran out of gas and ended up walking much of the last couple of obstacles.

Kim Stover had the best drive among the Americans, with no errors and a quick time, incurring only 72.85 penalties and placing her seventeenth on the marathon.

The unofficial scores are as follows:

Kim Stover: seventeenth on the marathon with 72.85, and twenty-ninth overall with 139.92 points.

Robin Groves: fifty-sixth on the marathon with 93.54, and fifty-fourth overall with 155.62.

Bill Peacock: fifty-second on the marathon with 90.38, and fortieth overall with 147.98.

Bob Koopman: forty-first on the marathon with 79.65, and fifty-eighth overall with 158.56.

The fastest marathon was driven by Lusie Musy, with a 65.82; she is now eleventh place overall.

The German competitor who was first in dressage was eighteenth in the marathon and is still first overall.

I wrote down these scores quickly off of a rolling scoreboard, so please excuse any errors!