Olympic Cross Country…..wow

Wow is the best word to describe my experience at my first Olympic cross-country. The course was absolutely stunning. The fences were massive with a real Chinese theme. The layout was quite spectator-friendly where you could easily find a few vantage points that would enable you to catch a few jumps. The horses were magnificient and the riding was awe-inspiring. What more could you ask for?

The weather didn’t seem to be a factor. It was overcast for the majority of the competition with rain during the last hour. Definitely ideal conditions, although things did seem to get a bit slick for the last few horses that did the course.

The Canadians looked really fantastic out there. They really attacked the jumps and put in an Olympic effort. Both Kyle and Sandra went clean over the jumps and only incurred time penalties. Selena looked fantastic, but unfortunately pulled a shoe near the end of the course which resulted in Columbo slipping a bit on the footing and running out at a couple of jumps. It’s really a shame because I think had the shoe stayed on, she would have likely only incurred time faults. Mike also had a stroke of bad luck when his stirrup leather came off early on in the course and he had to stop in order to get it back in…..a wise decision considering the course required an aggressive ride. No coasting here! Samantha also looked fantastic but unfortunately had a couple of run-outs and time.

I’m very happy to say that there were no serious accidents and almost everyone made it home. There were 2 big surprises that happened: USA’s Amy Tryon and Poggio II (a strong medal favourite) were taken out at fence # 10 when Poggio hung a leg which caused him to stumble and flipped Amy over his head. Under the new eventing rules, a fall by the rider constitutes immediate elimination. The French team suffered another loss when Jean Renaud Adde and Haston d’ Elpegere also were eliminated….you might have heard that former 2004 Gold Medalist Nicolas Touzaint had to withdraw prior to the dressage when his horse suffered an injury while being lunged.

There were tons of people who came out to see all the action. I got up at 5:30 am, was eating breakfast by 6am and lined up for the shuttle by 6:30am. This got me to Beas River at just after 7am….enough time for the long walk to the first water jump to meet Mike G. who had brought Canada’s chef de mission (Olympic gold medal diver Sylvie Bernier) to check out the sport of eventing. Sylvie had brought her daughter with her as well, who was very excited to get as many photos as she could (Florence, Sylvie’s daugher, takes hunter lessons back home in Quebec). This was their first exposure to Eventing and they were both wowed.

The action began at 8am with Mark Todd the first rider on course. I managed to get a video of him doing the first water jump which he made look like a piece of cake (of course!). Mike G. said that he did the math and the course worked out to a jumping effort on average every 8 seconds. Holy smokes that’s a lot of jumping. Not to mention that the terrain was quite undulating and hilly in places. I bet there will be a lot of tired horses and riders tonight.

Everyone now packs up their gear from Beas River and the exodus begins again back to the Shatin venue where the final stadium phase gets underway tomorrow night. The Germans, Aussies and Brits are incredibly strong, so it will definitely be a photo finish. In the meantime, I’ve been dripping hot, then soaking wet, then freezing from the a/c on the shuttle bus. But never been happier! Till next time…..

the crowds start to gather around the first water jump at 7:30am

Eventing's High Performance Chair Grit High with Jump's chef d'equipe Torchy Millar

Mike and me showing our Canuck team spirit

evidently I had an overabundance of Canuck spirit.....but I chickened out from wearing the pyjama pants

some Brit spirit!

The cross-country course was actually built on an exclusive swanky golf course....just a couple of weeks ago they were still playing!

check out the huge jumbotron in the background

Mike with chef de mission Sylvie and her daughter

Danish dressage rider Andreas Helgestrand (with paper in front of face) came to watch how things are done on the 'wilder' side

Mike hanging with the media gals: Jenn Ward and Karen Robinson

I'm very happy to say that the horse ambulance never moved from this spot during the entire competition

to truly appreciate the monstrosity effect of this jump, you really need to be standing in the ditch

The Great Wall of China.....cross country style!

this one's for you Al!!!

my new British friends

fixing divets between horses

next time I'll be brave enough to wear my Canadian jester hat with bells

check out the chinese lanterns...a nice added touch

absolutely stunning carved dragon combination

chef de mission Sylvie Bernier, team leader Mike G and me

heads up!

waiting for the bus for the trip back home....

Dressage Jog Done – all systems go!

The dressage jog took place this afternoon – always a nail-biter and after so many days of being here, it now finally feels like a competition.  The Canadian horses passed with flying colours and looked pretty darned sharp doing so! The team dressed in a Chinese theme complete with chopsticks in the hair. They really looked fantastic and were the best dressed team there (I know I’m biased!) I’ve posted a few pics below so you can see how nice they all looked.

I have to hit the hay as the cross-country is tomorrow morning. The Canadian team currently sits in 9th position following dressage. Selena O’Hanlon put in a terrific performance last night to be the top ranked Canadian after dressage – and she had a huge grin on her face the whole time during her test. It was great to see! I walked the course yesterday with Mike G. and it is quite spectacular. It should look stunning on tv although it is very twisty and turny….not a lot of galloping spots and 8 jumping efforts within the first minute. Most people are saying that this definitely won’t be a dressage competition and that no one will make the time. There are some options built into some of the fences, but they look pretty huge and technical as well. Sure reminded me why I quit Eventing once I reached the Prelim level! Waaaaaaaay too scary for me. I’ll stick to a nice little white-fenced arena where the scariest thing to deal with is a judge’s booth or a camera   I’ll post some pics of the cross-country tomorrow.

it's show time! (leaving the barn for the jog)

Jacquie and Gran Gesto

Leslie and Orion

Ashley and Pop Art

Dr. Jenn, Ali and Leslie

smiles all round following the jog (l-r: me, Dr. Jenn, Leslie, Jacquie, Ashley and Ali)

Ashley sports her chopsticks

My Hero!

This pic deserved a post all on it’s own. I felt like the ultimate groupie tonight but as Ali pointed out to me….when am I going to get another chance to hang out with Mark Todd!?!?! Yes, I did feel embarrassed to tap Mr. Eventing Legend himself on the shoulder and introduce myself as a huge fan who would be thrilled to bits if I could have my picture taken. But it was well worth it. Check it out! That’s me and Mark Todd!

my smile doesn't even come close to demonstrating how excited I was to be standing next to Mark Todd with his arm around my shoulder

Jog is done – all systems go for Canadian Eventers

A quick post before I hit the hay tonight. The jog was held this afternoon for the Eventers at 4pm. Luckily it didn’t rain on the parade in spite of it being a very rainy morning.

All of the Canadian horse/riders were turned out smartly and breezed through the jog. In fact all horses passed with the exception of Chile’s Ricardo Stangher and Brazil’s Fabricio Salgado. Great Britain’s William Fox Pitt was asked to stay for a second inspection but was eventually passed (the jury was concerned about a girth gall).

Dressage starts VERY bright and early tomorrow morning with Canada’s Kyle Carter being the second rider in and the first Canadian, following the one and only Mark Todd who gets the party going at 6:30am.

Canadian team heading back to the barns after a job well done

by the looks on their faces, it's obvious that jogs are serious serious business (l-r: Jenn Ward, Mike Gallagher, Jennifer Miller and Holly Jones)

just had to take a snap of this perfectly braided tail.

The Jade Market

Thursday was a bit of a slow day again. I accompanied Eventing Team Manager Janette Leask to the airport to pick up some owners and family who were arriving for the Event Team. We had a big Canadian flag with us so that people could spot us easily. Touching down in Hong Kong today were the Davies (owners of Columbo), Samantha Taylor’s family, Selena O’Hanlon’s mom, Kyle Carter’s family and Grit High (High Performance Chair for Eventing). That’s a big contingent! Everyone arrived safely and are excited for the competition to begin. The jog is today (Friday) at 4pm with Canada being the 4th country to go after Belarus, New Zealand and Poland.

Between airport runs, Janette and I found some time to check out the Jade market in Kowloon. I’m not a big shopper, but was interested in checking it out. 1 hour later and I found out how dangerous the place is even for a non-shopper like me! I came away with quite a few bags of stuff after spending $1,000 HK (equivalent to about $133 Canadian). I was also starting to get the hang of bartering and managed to get some swinging deals. Every seller at a stall has a calculator, and when you ask how much for something they type out the price on the calculator. If it looks like you’re balking, then they’ll immediately drop the price. If you start to walk away, then they push the calculator towards you and ask you to type in what you want to pay. The non-shopper in me worked wonders because I had no problem walking away from the majority of things I saw……so the price was always dropping for me . I picked up some gifts for back home and a beautiful yellow jade pendant necklace for me. Janette swung a great deal on some jade bracelets and I became the lucky owner of a beautiful purple jade bracelet. Dressage team vet Jennifer Miller and team rider Leslie Reid met us at the market but Janette and I had to leave to be back in time for airport run # 2 which was a good thing because who knew what other things I would have bought! It was a good prep excercise for me for the Ladies’ Market (dubious name, I know!) and the Stanley Market which I hope to do next week.

Although I was able to go to the venue that night, I hear that the place was really hopping. The main competition arena was open again with a dressage ring now set up and the judges’ huts. Dressage chef Ali Buchanan told me that the ring itself was packed with some near collisions. Our dressage riders stuck to riding around the outside of the ring which was likely a good plan given the chaos on the inside. The jumbotron was on, but no cartoon horses this time. The screen didn’t pose a problem to any of the horses.

This afternoon is the Eventing jog followed by a welcome reception to usher in the beginning of the games. After being here for so many days, people are definitely starting to feel the excitement now! Will do my best to grab some snaps and post here later.

The media hotel (where I’m staying) is also starting to get packed. Our jumper team is staying here with Jill, Jonathan and Mac already here. Ian and Torchy arrives later today with Eric coming tomorrow. Then our entire Team Canada will be here! I ran into Jenn Ward and Karen Robinson in the lobby who are both covering the events with a Canadian perspective. I know that Cealy Tetley has arrived as well but haven’t seen her yet.

One last thing…..Marks & Spencers rocks! Just bought some Sweet Thai Chili and Coriander flavoured chips. De-licious.

it was a rainy and foggy day.....the low hanging clouds over the hills looked very picturesque

the Jade Market

Jennifer and Leslie scoping out the merchandise

decisions, decisions, decisions.....

hitting a wee bit of traffic on the way back to the village

on the way to the aiport....this new tunnel has only been open for a couple of months and still looks shiny

I'm a huge Amazing Race fan, and I swear this is where they had to go in Season 2 to move containers in order to find their next clue

arriving at the airport for one of the many pickups

the Olympic shuttle bus area at the pickup

Olympic well wishes

I received this email yesterday from the “Rising Stars” group in British Columbia:

“In this the  eve of the Olympics when all eyes are on the hero’s of our sport  – none more firmly focused in your  direction than that of the youth in our sport.  As the organizers of the Rising Stars Youth  Dressage and Hack Challenge and on behalf of all the competitors we wish you the  best Olympic experience ever.  We are proud that you are representing our  sport and our country.

We salute the ‘Stars’ of our sport from the ‘Rising Stars’ in our  sport.

Greetings from Canada  Sue  Holtby,  Wendy Christoff and Nancy Olson”

Holy footing batman

I’m sure a lot of people have heard about the typhoon that blew in today. You can read an article all about it here. It didn’t really seem to have too much of an impact on people, with the exception that the Athlete’s Village was packed since training was suspended at the venue. That left a whole lot of riders and support staff looking for something to do. And the malls were closed! It also meant that some of the jumper horses that were due to arrive today are delayed. The Americans are still stuck in Aachen and the Australians are having to make a prolonged pit stop in Dubai. Hopefully the weather will clear soon and they will be in before the week is over.

By late afternoon they re-opened the venue for training, which saw a mass exodus from the village to the stables. Mike and I had a Team Leader meeting at 7pm so we headed over there later. I was curious to see what the footing would look like after the torrential downpours and gale force winds we had today. When I arrived, the rings were full including the main competition ring. I was absolutely amazed to see the footing look like it hadn’t seen a drop of rain all day. Wow! It was perfect. Not even a slight damp patch anywhere to be seen. Now that is impressive.

Ashley and Leslie had their horses out in one of the side rings which was booked for Canada. Both horses looked relaxed. The Canadian Eventers had some time booked in the main competition arena where there were jumps set up. Each country had a set time limit to use the arena. They could jump the course, jump a few jumps, or just work around the jumps. Everyone seemed relaxed in there too, even with the big jumbotron all lit up showing videos and images.

During tonight’s team leader meeting, Germany asked if the jumbotron would be on or off during the competition. The organizers said that they had it on tonight to see how the event horses would react and depending on the reaction, it may be off during the competition. I had heard of a few horses being less than impressed (to put it mildly) about the jumbotron the previous night so I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn it off completely for competition and maybe only have it on during breaks. Funnily enough, apparently it’s the cartoon horses jumping over jumps and piaffing that caused the biggest upset. That must be one scary cartoon horse!

I had a guest pass for the village today and wanted to take full advantage by eating dinner there. Guest passes are from 9am to 9pm, and Mike & I arrived back at the village at 8:50pm. Managed to get through the security check and made a bee-line for the restaurant. Tonight’s delicious menu included roast beef, prawns sauteed in soya sauce and of course my dear ol friend Mr. Blueberry Cheesecake. I ate as quickly as I could but Mike still rec’d a phone call from the security folks downstairs asking where I was (it was 9:15pm by this point). Mike managed to convince them to let me finish my dinner and I was back down in the lobby by 9:30pm. I have a pretty sore stomach from eating so quickly, but it was worth it!

When I arrived back at the media hotel, the scene in the lobby was pretty dismal. Buckets everywhere, towels over the computers…..seems the ceiling was leaking in multiple locations. I’m guessing it must be connected with the renovation work that they’re doing on the roof. All I know is that my room is nice & dry and my bed is calling out to me so I’m signing off. Hopefully tomorrow I can tell you about the Jade market!

the main competition arena under the lights and the rain.....our Canadian eventers in the background

the arena just before you enter the main competition arena. For dressage this would be the 10-minute ring

watching Leslie and Orion (that's my thumb at the top so that I'm in the picture!)

Tropical Storm Kammuri

Since there wasn’t anything in the books today except for a team leader meeting at 7pm, I had planned to catch some extra zzzzz’s and catch up on some computer work. This was cut a bit short when Mike called me at 7am to let me know that there was a Typhoon Level 8 warning in effect. My first question: Do I need to go anywhere? Answer: no, stay in the hotel. Question: can I stay in my room? Answer: Yes. So with that I snuggled a little deeper under the covers and listened to the wind howling against the windows and the rain beating down hard. Curiosity got the better of me and I got up to take a peek outside. This is what I saw:

I couldn’t even see the mountains and at times even the apartment buildings disappeared. Wow! Pretty crazy weather.  I noticed a piece of paper by my room door. It was a notice about the Typhoon Signal 8 warning. All training sessions at the venue had been suspended until further notice and the shuttle buses were on reduced service. Good news is that I was able to catch up on a bit of computer work. Bad news is that boredom kicked in pretty quick. Mike had arranged for a day pass for me to the Olympic Village so Ali and I headed over on the shuttle bus. I enjoyed a fa-bu-lous lunch in the athlete’s restaurant that included roast beef, chicken stuffed with lobster and shrimp. Of course I had to help myself to some blueberry cheesecake as well. Hey, I make sure to take advantage of the few times I get to eat at the Village!

The restaurant was packed as many of the teams stayed to wait out the storm. The weather is supposed to improve by the evening so imagine that the venue will be hopping as people take out their horses for some excercise. I’ll be heading there for the team leaders’ meeting so it will be interesting to see how the fancy footing handles all the rain that has fallen.

Before I left, I was amazed at how many more signatures are on the “Peace Wall”. It looks great!

Time for me to sign off so I can head to the venue for the meeting.

….as they say in Hong Kong – joy gin!

Canadian Welcome Reception

On Tuesday night we held our Canada Welcome Reception. This was organized as a substitute for the welcome reception the COC typically holds to welcome athletes to the games. Since we’re a satellite city in Hong Kong, Mike organized a reception at the Media Hotel for athletes, support staff and any owners who have already arrived.

The reception turned out great. Luckily all of my shopping at the Dollaramas and Giant Tiger while still in Canada paid off big time and I was able to decorate the rooms in red and white. The food was fantastic – everything from chips & salsa to chicken and beef satays with peanut sauce, fried calamari, sandwiches, Thai fish cakes, mushroom vol-au-vents and crispy spring rolls. My personal fave were the popadums & curry sauce. In fact there was so much food that there ended up being a ton left over. When the clean-up crew started to cart away the trays they were immediately stopped by the athletes and grooms who asked for plastic containers so that the cheesecakes and mille-feuilles could be taken back to the barns. It was way too good to waste!

Also attending the reception was Peter Gray who as you recall is in town with the CBC crew to help them catch all of the equestrian action on video.

Although the reception was only a couple of hours, it looked like everyone was having a great time and it was nice to have the whole team together before everyone gets focused on competition time (which is just around the corner starting with the Eventing jog August 8th)

Here are some pics!

(l-r) Jacquie Brooks, Sandra Donnelly, Christiane Ober, Selena O'Hanlon

getting into the Olympic spirit (courtesy of Jacquie Brooks)

dressage chef Ali Buchanan captures the evening in digital

mixing it up

(l-r) Kyle Carter, Jay Hambly and Peter Gray

the dressage athletes are presented with beautiful commemorative Olympic coins from team leader Mike Gallagher

the Eventing team receives their coin sets

Eventing chef Graeme Thom makes a fashion statement in the infamous 'pyjama pants' with Jump's team vet Sylvie

the grooms are presented with an Olympic gift

Ashley Holzer takes a wii break with her kids (I'm pretty sure Harry beat her at tennis despite Emma's best coaching efforts)

Ashley and her daughter Emma

Jacqueline Brooks and Lindsay Kellock

the desserts were delicious! Holly makes sure a package is sent back to the barn

(l-r) Hollly Jones, Jacquie Brooks, Lindsay Kellock and Jen Kellock

Culture Shock

I have to start off by saying that I’m not what you would call a world traveller. I’ve led a pretty sheltered life for the most part and until recently my only big trip abroad was going to Auckland, New Zealand in 1990 to watch the Commonwealth Games (thanks Mickey!).  Although I absolutely loved New Zealand, that long trip was the nail in the coffin for my fear of flying.  I didn’t really fly again until 7 years later when I flew to England for the first time to meet Al for the first time (my husband…..and I flew by myself – that MUST have been love!).

Fast forward to 2007 when I made my first trip as Assistant Team Leader for the Pan American Games in Rio. A 3 hour trip to Miami followed by an 8 hour trip to Rio. The bad news is that I spent about 1/ 2 of that time in the airplane bathroom. The good news is that because I was so sick, I couldn’t focus as easily on being afraid.

Fast forward to this year, and it’s the Olympic Games in Hong Kong. A 15 1/2 hour flight! Good news is that I wasn’t sick this time ’round (much to Mike’s relief I’m sure since he was my travel buddy). Bad news is that the seats were so crammed it made sleeping next to impossible.

So now I’ve been in Hong Kong for a 12 days, and I’ve really noticed the differences in Asian culture as opposed to North America – even in my limited environment which has consisted up until now the Media hotel, Olympic Village, Venue and the mall (yes, the mall…..need to buy a phone? I’m your man. Want to get something for the kids? That’s on the bottom level but you need to take the escalators to the rear of the mall. Marks & Spencers more your cup of tea? Level 3 is where you want to be).

People in Hong Kong love to shop. I mean they REALLY love to shop. Try shopping on a Sunday and it’s standing room only. Still not convinced? Today there is a Level 8 Typhoon warning…..the weather is wicked and the mall is closed. Correction, the stores in the mall are closed. The mall itself is open and the food courts are open. And the place is packed!! It’s quite something.

Lesson # 2 I learned…..there is no such thing as friends when it comes to the elevators. It’s a dog eat dog world and unless you’ve got an hour or two to kill, you learn to forget being polite and make a run for it. At the media hotel where I’m staying, they are doing renovations and 1/2 of the elevators aren’t working. That isn’t so much a problem in the middle of the day – but good luck in the mornings and evenings. I made the mistake of assuming that things are like at home where you wait for the elevator; when it arrives, you wait for the people already on the elevator to leave; then you get on the elevator in an orderly fashion with those who have been waiting the longest being first.  So there I’m standing with quite a large crowd of people, and I’m noticing that some people are moving to stand in front of one elevator then moving to another. I realize that they are watching the floor number change and trying to guess which elevator will arrive first. Elevator arrives, and I wait for the people on it to leave. What ends up happening is that there’s a mad push of people for that elevator to get on. How the existing elevator people managed to get off I have no idea. Ok, I’ll wait for the next one. Next one arrives, and bam! People who literally just arrived to catch an elevator barge through the rest of us who have been patiently waiting. I miss that one too, but notice a pattern developing. I also notice that the majority of us who missed the elevator are wearing Olympic accreditation passes and are not from Hong Kong. Ok, I can be taught. I now join the people who are scanning the elevator numbers waiting for the next one. I move from one elevator to the next and manage to get up to the opening doors. The doors open completely and I ignore every fibre in my body to wait for the people to get off the elevator….I just keep walking. Success! I’m on. Jammed in like a sardine mind you but I’m on. 30 mins after first approaching the elevators, I am finally on my way to my room having learned a valuable lesson with a voice in my head saying “Dorothy – this sure ain’t Kansas no more”.