The fourth Al-Ahram Al-Arabi Endurance Ride took place in the desert overlooking the Pyramids. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab followed the pack with photographer Mahmoud Moussa Once again this year I found myself in the desert, surrounded by a sea of dunes, of shifting sands, and of the rhythmic pounding of hooves. From dawn until dusk, 52 horses and their riders explored the Sahara sands. In the absence of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al- Maktoom and his sons, title holders and champions of the ride, another Arab sheikh snatched the crown. Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, son of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) president, took the tile, clocking the 120-km ride in 7:07:09 hours at an average speed of 17 kilometres per hour. His championed horse: a grey Arabian, Mindari Aenzac. The win marked Sheikh Hazza's first. Last year he retired after the first loop of competition due to the tiring of his horse. In the first and second years of competition he came seventh and second, respectively. This year's win marked a clean sweep by the Emirates, which took the first three places and the fifth. Following in close behind the champion came Abdullah Khamis and Adnan Sultan in the UAE's second two spots. Riders from Spain, Jordan, Egypt and Italy broke the stranglehold. It came as no surprise to the gathering that the UAE monopolised the race -- the nation is reputed for its global dominance of the sport. "It's because the Emirates looked after the horses well and improved their breeding since the early 1970s," said Mohamed Bin Rashed, head of the UAE endurance races. "Today we have our own pure Arabian and thoroughbreds that threaten the world and win competitions." The one-day event, the fourth in Egypt to be governed by international rules, began Thursday at dawn in Saqqara, outside Cairo. The 52 riders looped around a hilly course overlooking the Pyramids of Giza, Dahshour and Saqqara. Sponsored by the UAE and organised jointly by the Egyptian Equestrian Federation (EEF) and Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine, the competition attracted contestants from Egypt, the UAE, Italy, Spain, Chile, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Judging of contestants takes place both on the condition of their horses as well as the time taken to complete the 120- km course. The race was divided into five loops. The first covered 36kms, followed by a 30-minute rest. The second, 30kms and 40 minutes of rest; the third, 20kms with a 50-minute rest; the fourth, 20kms with a 50-minute break; and a final 14kms followed by a medical check-up. Mandatory check-ups -- blood pressure, dehydration symptoms and injuries -- by veterinarians are conducted on the horses every 30 minutes. A horse found to be physically unfit is withdrawn from competition for care. Last year the two-star endurance race started from the Khefren Pyramid instead of Saqqara; a change made in response to the participation of the Egyptian Equestrian Federation (EEF). "However we re-changed the course this year and started from Saqqara," said Engineer Abdel-Fattah Ragab, president of the EEF. "The route was something of a spectacle. Egypt is displaying her charms in all the rides." The star upgrading came last year. "It became a 120-km race instead of a 100-km," said Brigadier General Mohamed Bakir, secretary-general of the EEF. "Although it's a new sport in Egypt -- just born three years ago thanks to the initiation of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine and to the UAE's sponsorship and promotion of the sport in Egypt -- its local rise has been quick and tangible," he said. Ten Egyptian horses and their so-called knights managed to finish the race. Two Egyptians came in the top 10: Karim Farouk came seventh on Tohfa finishing the course in 7:29:12 hours at an average speed of 16 kilometres per hour, and Alaa Abu Basha came ninth on Prince in 8:00:30 hours at an average speed of 14 kilometres per hour. Celene Atmitim, a French woman living in Egypt with her Moroccan husband, came 11th -- the first woman to finish the race. "I represent the country I'm living in," said a smiling 31- year-old Celene after passing the final checkpoint. "I started endurance two years ago. It differs from show-jumping where you stay with the horse for minutes. But I love endurance. It's the kind of sport that satisfies me. It doesn't matter to win the race as to finish it. Here lies the success." The evolved event was a reflection of the changing status of the sport in the country. "In the first championship, the first Egyptian finished in 40th place. The performance improved to 25th place and 16th last year. Now it's the seventh," Ragab said. "In the Kuwait version of the tournament held last month, five Egyptian riders took from ninth to 13th place. It's a great improvement in no time. Now we can prepare ourselves to the three-star competitions (160-km) and the world championship. It's going to be our target." The change came with the EEF's hiring of a French endurance manager, Allain Porras, two years ago. Porras travels to Egypt three months a year to supervise the training, advise the riders, and put a mounting plan for their improvement. Unlike in other national sports where foreigners are hired as a source of expertise, Porras is not just a name. He has been riding for 25 years and boasts a claim as seven times French champion, three times world champion and Europe champion. "There are five races in Egypt, 40-km, 60-km, 80-km, 100- km and one 120-km international race, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi Endurance Ride," Porras shared with Al-Ahram Weekly, through the translation guidance of Said Khattab. "All these races are to qualify the horses for endurance. The Egyptians are doing better than before but they still need time. The UAE have done a lot to push the sport forward in Egypt though." Patience, however, is a virtue that the Egyptians must adopt, Porras stresses. "Egyptians want to enter world championships, but in Egypt there are 50 horses which can run endurance races and only six good horses that can do 120-km well," he explained. "But in France, for example, there are 12,000 horses that can run endurance from 100kms to 160kms. We've been working on that for almost 30 years and that was the outcome. Egypt has to take it step by step to reach ultimate goal, the world championships. It's an endurance game, so endure it till you reach the ends." The problem in Egypt, Porras asserted, is that Arabian endurance horses are wasted and trained on dancing and beauty contests -- their stamina being ignored. The riders, however, are another story. "They are good but they lack the technique and the experience," he said, adding that female riders can do better than the male in endurance because they "feel" the horse. But in general, the situation is changing. "Four years ago, 39 Egyptian horses out of a total of 54 horses were eliminated mostly because they were lame and the riders were ignorant of the horses' abilities although it was a 100-km race," said veterinarian Dr Ashraf El-Qallah. "Now in the fourth annual 120-km race, only 17 Egyptians out of a total of 29 horses were eliminated due to Lameness, dehydration and metabolic disorder." The championship this year as a whole reflected an elevated level of professionalism. "The organisation was excellent," said Sheikh Hazza. "From the availability of water to referees to resting stations to the vets. The exhibition of pictures of the two cities, Giza and Dubai, was great on the sidelines of the race." Such talk is indeed one of the ultimate end goals of the event. "It's an attempt to promote an Arab sport in Egypt," said Ashraf Mahmoud, sports editor at Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine, and the man behind the race in Egypt. "It's an attempt to unite the Arabs more through the history of horse racing, a sport which has unified people throughout the ages." While the national goal is to join the world championships, the ultimate aspiration of the forefathers of endurance rides -- the UAE -- have another aim in mind. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoom is pushing the sport forward into the Olympic arena. The first goal is to take it into the Athens 2004 spectator arena -- a stepping stone to a full-fledge place as a medal sport in the 2008 Olympics.
