World champion to feature in 90km challenge

Abu Dhabi: About 70 lady riders including reigning World Champion Maria Alvarez Ponton are expected to participate in the Al Jaber Challenge 90-kilometre endurance ride to be held at the Emirates International Endurance Village tomorrow.

Announcing details of the event, which is a national ride, Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club said about 70 riders have confirmed for the event.

"The Dubai-based Maria, who won this ride last year will be back and her presence will be a tremendous boost for the nearly 30-strong line up of UAE national girls," Al Nuaimi said.

"The winner will be awarded a car plus cash prizes will be given to other riders who finish at the top," he said.

Ahmad Al Jaber, representing main sponsor Al Jaber, said, "This is the second time that we are supporting this Ladies event. We are seeing a rising number of lady riders, particularly nationals taking to this sport and we are happy to be part of this growth." Al Jaber, who is an endurance rider himself, said that they would be supporting more such events in the future. Lara Sawaya, representing the Wathba Stud Farm, said, "Over the last three years we have seen the number of lady riders increasing at a fast pace. Two years ago we had just around 20 to 30 riders, last year it grew to around 40 and this year we are expecting over 70 riders."

Platform

"There will be another ladies ride here at Al Wathba and there have also been such rides in Dubai resulting in providing a platform for the lady riders to enhance their skills and compete with international riders," Sawaya said.

Tomorrow's ride starts at 7am at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Khatem and will be run in four stages of 30, 24, 20 and 16 kilometres.