The premier event of the American Endurance Ride Conference, the annual National Championship ride, proved to be a weekend of celebration in Northern California on September 11 and 13. At the site of the annual Patriot’s Day ride in Greenville, CA, competitors arrived from all over the western U.S. and Canada to compete for AERC’s top prizes.

The 100-mile championship ride, held Friday, was won handily by Lindsay Graham, a fourth-year veterinary student at the University of California at Davis. Riding Chris Martin’s seven-year-old chestnut Arabian gelding, Monk, Graham finished the technical course in nine hours and 58 minutes, 35 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Brad Green of Auburn, CA, riding Pawnee, his 10-year-old Arabian cross gelding.

The win came as a surprise to the 27-year-old Graham, with 2,275 AERC miles to her credit. A total of 61 horse-and-rider teams started the 100-mile competition at 5:30 a.m. on Friday, September 11. The 2009 ride site was in Greenville, CA, midway between Redding and Reno in northern California. The championship trail, which varied from 3,800 to 6,100 feet elevation, included spectacular views of Walker Lake and Lake Almanor. When the 24-hour time limit was up early the next morning, 42 teams had crossed the finish line.

On Sunday, September 13, 89 riders set out on the 50-mile competition, with 73 completing in times ranging from four hours and three minutes to nine hours and 27 minutes. First to finish were Kenneth Keele of Greenwood, CA, a middleweight rider, and Ravenwood Shahbar. They actually were second over the finish line but the first team to cross was eliminated when the horse’s pulse didn’t meet the 64 beats per minute criteria within the required one-hour time period.

Both the 50-mile and 100-mile distances at this year’s championships served as qualifying rides for FEI competition, as endurance riders gear up for the endurance event in next September’s World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

The American Endurance Ride Conference’s 2010 ride season begins on December 1. To join, or for more information, please contact the AERC office at 866-271-2372, email aerc@foothill.net, or visit www.aerc.org.