Quality entries for national endurance champs

Wairarapa Endurance and Competitive Trail Riding Club president Shane Dougan is delighted at the quality and quantity of entries received for the national endurance championships they will host at Whareama over Easter weekend.
Over 100 horses and riders have entered in the event which will get underway when the premier competition, the three-star 160km ride, begins in the early hours of Friday morning.
Dougan himself will have a two-fold interest in the outcome of this ride as he will be competing aboard Taralea Sheer Illusion and one of the main rivals will be his partner Jenny Champion, who will be aboard Freckles.
The latter combination have already won the 160km title twice and are expected to be amongst the front runners again.
But Dougan and Champion will not have everything their own way with other leading hopes in the 32-strong field being the vastly-experienced Murray Smith on Glenmore Toyboy and Mark Tylee on Class Act.
Dougan is confident the course for the 160km race, which will be based around six loops of farmland surrounding the championship base at Whareama Domain, will be challenging but not too challenging.
"There are a few hills but most of it is quite flat and everybody should have a fair chance of making it to the end," he said.
Competitors are given up to 16hrs to complete the course but Dougan "wouldn't be at all surprised" if the winner broke the 10-hour mark.
A one-star event over 28km will be staged on Saturday and it has attracted a field of 28 riders including 9 juniors and also on Saturday will be competitive trail rides in which 11 riders are already down to take part.
The two-star 120kms rides for seniors and juniors on Sunday afternoon have drawn a total of 31 riders and non-championship rides over 80km on Saturday and 40km on Sunday should also prove popular.
Entries for them are taken right up until the day.