Despite holding mud and driving thunderstorms, Tom Hutchison of Bethel, Maine, outgalloped Ryan Rawaki of St. Clements, Ont., and Connie Walker of Pennsylvania to the finish of the Fair Hill 100-Mile International Endurance Ride just before 8 o’clock last night.
The three had ridden together for most of the last nine-mile loop, chasing after Valerie Kanavy. In fact, said Hutchison, “We’d pretty much conceded it to Valerie.”
But Kanavy, on the chestnut Shah Don, was galloping faster than the trail markers on motorized vehicles who were setting up glowsticks in the dark. She had to wait for them to mark the trail at one point, and then there was one more long hill, from the river bottom at Big Elk Creek, to the finish.
“We hit that hill, and he said, ‘Enough,’ ” said Kanavy.
And that’s where Hutchison, on Prymtym, Rawaki, on JC Quick Quint, and Walker, on Electric Smoke, went galloping past her. Prymtym nipped Quick Quint by a scant 3 seconds, with Electric Smoke another r18 seconds behind, 5 seconds in front of Shah Don.
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Deborah DeShon and AF Stogie, who had led through the first 60 miles of trail, came home fifth, 24 minutes later. The trail, mostly north of the Fair Hill CCI grounds, wound through the rolling countryside of three states–Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware. It was mostly woodland and pasture trail, with some gravel round and just a few stretches of paved road. Riders said the hardest part of the trail–other than the testing mud–was following the ribbons along the trail, among the many riding trails in the area, through the woods and the meadows.
They said the series of late-afternoon and early evening thunderstorms that wreaked havoc on nearby I-95 and made the Fair Hill grounds an even deeper mud hole than they already were, had little effect on them as they headed for the finish. “I got a shower a little earlier than I expected,” said Rawaki, 18, whose horse also won the best-condition award.
“This is my biggest win,” said Hutchison, 52, an engineer at a paper mill in Maine, who also organizes the Pine Tree 50/100. “But I knew he was doing well, that he was building up,” added Hutchison of Prymtym, a 7-year-old Arabian.
Walker had only been asked to ride Electric Smoke two days before the ride, by owner Jonie Bruker, who was hoping he would earn an FEI certificate of completion and be eligible for next year’s North American Championships, which will be held here.
