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Kazakhstan participating in the race for first time, was expected to find the desert conditions tough . The former CIS nation was given a late entry into the World Endurance Championship, to be held at Dubai International Endurance City on January 27. Two of their riders have already arrived here and both Nikolay Melbard and Olesia Marchenko are looking ahead to the challenge. "Our horses from Kazakhstan can't travel to the UAE since our country is yet to be declared as a disease-free zone. Thus we had to procure horses from Russia and have trained there before coming here," said the Kazakh team's co-ordinator Alexander Andrievsky.
Andrievsky said both the Kazakh riders as well as Russia's Elena Loseva had prepared their horses for the desert conditions in a different way. "We expect large tracts of deep sand. To overcome this we have had the horses train on deep snow," said Andrievsky.
Melbard, who is the top rider in Kazakhstan, said he was fully prepared for the championship."We know this is our first appearance here and we have also heard a lot about the UAE's top riders," said 48-year-old Melbard.
"Our horses arrived two days ago and they seem to be adapting to this warmer climate quite well," she said."We will be giving them small distances to cover initially," said the Kazakh woman who also trains other young riders in her country.
"The climate here is not as hot as we thought it would be. I think it is quite ideal and our horses should be able to do well," Marchenko added.
Columbia and Kazakhstan will be making their debut in the World Endurance Championship. A total of 186 riders from 42 countries are expected to take part in the 160-km ride to be held here on January 27. |
