Manama, May 26 (BNA) — Eight of Bahrain’s best riders will be in action today when the 120km Endurance Horse Ride gets underway at 6am (Bahrain time) at Compiegne, near Paris, in France.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, along with Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Hood Ebrahim, Ghazi Al Dossary, Yaqoub Al Hammadi, Abdulrahman Al Saad, Jaffer Mirza, Raed Mahmood will spearhead Bahrain in today’s event.
Sponsored by the Bahrain Royal Endurance Team, the ride is expected to be a well-contested battle with more than 100 riders from all over the world taking part, including prominent participants from the UAE.
Other contestants will come from Qatar, the UAE, Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Hong Kong, South Africa, Poland, Belgium, Malaysia, India, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil.
The race is scheduled to conclude between 2pm and 2.30pm when the first riders return to the equestrian stadium. The official prize-giving ceremony will then be held at 5pm.
This will be the second event in 48 hours for the Bahrain team at Compiegne, having competed in the Shaikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan-supported 160km ride last Friday, when Bahrain’s Hood Ebrahim had a remarkable finish by coming fourth overall among more than 120 riders.
Bahrain riders’ progress is being closely followed up by Royal Team captain Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who witnessed the veterinary inspection at Compiegne endurance village yesterday, in the presence of team officials and race organisers.
Shaikh Nasser the Bahraini riders’ participation in the 120 race is part of their new strategy to qualify the team for future international rides and pick up more experience from other well-known riders from different countries.
Shaikh Nasser, who attended the Bahraini horse beauty show held yesterday at the racing venue, leader emphasized his keenness to be part of this event and benefit from their presence in as many endurance rides as possible to raise the overall standard of the Bahraini riders.
During his visit to the village the Royal Team leader also met with representatives of the official endurance publication in Italy, which covered the Bahrain Royal Team participation at World Championship in UK as well as the World Military Championship hosted by Bahrain.
The race will be covered by a team of media personnel also travelled to Paris to prepare the telecasting of the races. The website http://www.endruancebh.com was launched recently in cooperation with a French telecommunication company to provide live broadcasting of the races in France.
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BNA 0739 GMT 2013/05/26