On March 14 and 15 Williams Valley Endurance Riders Club held its fourth annual endurance ride.
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This year the ride base moved to Stroud Showgrounds and its much appreciated amenities.
After the heavens opened on Friday , Saturday dawned a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in sight.
The weekend kicked off with a ride and tie event on Saturday afternoon which saw teams of two runners-riders and one horse racing over a 5km course.
The runners set a cracking pace and several times even managed to overtake some of the slower riders.
Clarence Town local Sally Lewis and her partner Mary Boyling from Thornton riding Hayley Lewis's horse Willow put in a huge effort to be narrowly defeated for a well deserved second place.
The event was a lot of fun for both competitors and spectators alike.
The club was thrilled to receive a total of 126 entries for the main event on Sunday.
Sixty two riders entered the feature 80km event, 33 the 40km, 21 the 20km social ride and 10 entries for the 10km social ride.
This year saw an international flavour with riders from the USA, South Africa and Malaysia travelling to Stroud for the ride.
The 80km ride started in the early hours of the brisk Sunday morning under a star-filled sky with riders being treated to a spectacular pastel sunrise.
But as the morning heated up and the humidity rose, a storm rolled in bringing with it strong winds and sharp showers that settled in to steady rain by the afternoon.
Endurance riders being as resilient as they are they took it all in their stride and powered on regardless.
The new course proved to be very technical and challenging with riders being forced to slow their pace to negotiate numerous washouts, large puddles and slippery hills.
The ride was eventually won by popular Hawkesbury vet Emily Streckfuss in a time of six hours and 50 minutes.
This is the first year that Emily has competed in the Williams Valley ride after having worked tirelessly for the club as head vet in previous rides.
Emily crossed the line hand-in-hand with Sydney rider Con Bouzianis however Con's horse was vetted out due to lameness making Emily the outright winner.
Plenty of happy tears were shed as Emily's horse Arabian gelding Captain had been a wedding gift to her from a fellow endurance rider making the win very special for all involved.
Overall the ride was a great success with riders complimenting the beautiful scenery and the hospitality of the Stroud community.
Some of the local riders who successfully completed included Monique Echentille from Main Creek, Gil and Lorna Stevenson from Flat Tops, Rhonda and Zoe Locke from Gresford, Sally Lewis, Tristan Lewis, Hayley Lewis, Susan Pritchard, Kat Stenholm, Leonie Stenholm, Alex Merrick and Tess Mutton all from Clarence Town.
The event would not be possible without the generosity and hard work of the locals and volunteers.