MostlyBeautifulThings.com Blog - Full Story
August 9, 2014
By Elizabeth Speth
The annual Western States Trail Ride, popularly called the Tevis Cup, is a grueling 24-hour horseback ride over 100 miles of exceptionally beautiful and punishing terrain. Sanctioned by the American Endurance Ride Conference, it is a horse-centric event, designed around the safety and well-being of the animal.
It’s an amateur race against the clock, no cash prizes, only a coveted buckle. Started in 1955, it is considered the founding event in endurance racing, and is still known as the most difficult. Over the years, it has evolved into something that requires nearly a thousand people to make sure up to 200 riders and their horses make the journey safely.
The psychology of the riders — why would they do such a thing? — is the subject of another blog. They are a breed apart. The training of their magnificent steeds for such a trial is also another discussion entirely.
All I’m qualified to address is the volunteerism aspect of this. For a large handful of years — I’m fuzzy on the exact number out of sheer fatigue — my husband and I have braved miles of rocky, narrow roads to report for duty in the early afternoon at the rugged Francisco’s outpost, at Mile 86. We remain there until the pre-dawn hours of the morning, sometimes pulling out as the sky begins to lighten. This is where we put the exhausted horses and riders back together, hydrate, refresh and encourage them, and send them on to the last part of their journey. This is where we marvel at the freshness of the front-runners, who breeze in and out and look as though they are in the middle of a leisurely ten-mile trail ride. All of them have come from the high peaks near Lake Tahoe, and will end their journey in Auburn, CA, if they make it that far...
Read more here:
https://mostlybeautifulthings.com/2014/08/09/confessions-of-a-tevis-volunteer-or-why-i-keep-coming-back/
No comments:
Post a Comment