Man V Horse 2023 – The race

I get teary every time I try to write this, think about it, watch videos back or see photos of the day. Happy tears, tears of pure appreciation for the horse that Tissy is, grateful for the life experiences she has given me, tears of gratitude for the people in my life and what they do for me, just pure emotion leaks out my face!

What an event! It really does live up to the hype. There were hundreds of spectators cheering everyone on and the atmosphere and community were exceptional. Firstly let me say thank you to the organisers, sponsors, volunteers and everyone who makes this event happen.

So let’s start at the beginning shall we, Kate and I were taking this event as seriously as we would a championship 160km. We planned to ride as a team and then after the first vet gate re-assess to see if Kate would push on to win or if Tissy was still up for it and we’d carry on together. I planned not to dictate anything to Tissy, just let her set her pace and go with the flow, she was in full race mode and just wanted to fly so I let her do what she does best.

The pace car was a little slower than we are used to traveling so there were moments where I thought we might end up in the boot but we’d placed ourselves up front to avoid as much chance of being kicked or caught up in any drama amidst the big group of riders. Tissy did spook a little at the chip timers across the floor, but otherwise we had a great start, nice and controlled, out of the fray and easy on up the first hill.

Tissy and Nessie went so well together, sharing the leads and Kate and I kept eachother in the right headspace to make good decisions, letting people charge on past uphills, going faster on the downhills, slowing down when we were exposed to the sun and speeding up when we were under the cover of shade, all to preserve our horses energy and keep a nice even effort throughout the course. This is where our past endurance experience really helped us out, as we knew that it’s not all about going as fast as you can but about how you cover the terrain. We did the first 18km in 15.7kph, taking it easy down the hill into the vet gate.

The heat played a huge part in our day and I have never seen Tissy’s respiratory rate take so long to come down. I think we lay around 4/5th place coming into the vet gate. We presented in around 6 minutes and 18 seconds. Usually, I present to vet with a heart rate 5 beats higher than required as it normally drops but alas it was 63 so we were turned away and waited until it was 58bpm before we presented again and the same happened to Kate, and most the other riders I think. Whilst I tacked up Tissy was given sugar beet water, electrolytes and feed and we were back out together with Kate and Nessie now in the lead with the next rider 5 minutes behind us.

We were confident that we could maintain the same strategy and speed as our first half, and as it was already much hotter we decided that we wouldn’t push on for speed but keep consistent, we did the second half at 15.6kph (A consistency of speed I’m very proud of). We met so many lovely runners, I am in awe of their human capacity and grit to complete this course. It’s the second toughest course I’ve ever ridden in terms of technicality and elevation, and the runners still had a smile and a cheer as we came past.

Nessie & Tissy were cruising, Kate and I were loving it and it was an amazing feeling to have Tissy so effortlessly cover the course. About 4 miles out from the finish Nessie lost a shoe, for the second time, the first she’d had put back on in the vet gate. She wanted to stop to vet wrap the foot to get back to the finish and as she did she told me to go ahead, we knew we had another rider just 5 minutes behind us, but that’s just not good sportsmanship, if I had left Nessie would never have stood still for Kate to wrap his foot, she’d have struggled to hold on, maybe even struggled to get back on again and would leave a horse with a sore foot. We had covered most of this course together and I wasn’t leaving now. So we stopped, Kate wrapped Nessie’s hoof, got back on and we headed off onto the next hill together.

Kate then spent the next 4 miles saying sorry but I would not have had it any other way. The rider in 3rd caught us up about 1.5 miles from the finish but was making no attempt to pass so we carried on at the same pace. All throughout the race we communicated which side we were overtaking eachother on, which line we were taking for a corner, what speed was right for both of us, so as we approached the bend to the finish I yelled to Kate that I’d be on her inside, Nessie is the quicker horse in a racing finish and as Tissy has never done one I wasn’t convinced she’d care enough to go for it and not let another horse pass her, she’s normally indifferent to other horses, preferring to do her own thing, so as Kate stretched her arm out to hold my hand over the line I yelled ‘just go’ so that hopefully we wouldn’t let our first and second places slip away (I love the photos of this moment, Kate’s arm outstretched towards me even though the finish line is meters in front of her with another horse hot on our heels, that’s friendship and camaraderie right there). Nessie and Kate didn’t disappoint and actually neither did Tissy, racing ahead to take first and second horses with 3rd mere strides behind us.

There is no denying that the horses were hot, it took 10 minutes for Tissy’s heart rate to get under 50bpm and another 10mins before she was happily munching grass and mooching around, at which point we decided to go to vet. Always the most nerve-wracking moment when the race is behind you and the adrenalines been high. I was confident as Tissy’s heart rate was 42bpm before we went in and I knew she wasn’t lame but you just never know. Thankfully all top 3 horses passed the vetting and we kept our placings, which were incidentally also the placings we were in leaving the vet gate, it just goes to show the importance of crew and vet gate strategy for races like these. It’s where I think we lost it to the runners too as two had crossed the finish line before us, the winner being 10 minutes ahead putting us in 3rd and 4th overall. We just weren’t fast enough through the vet check to catch them up!

It was so lovely to meet Dan, the winning runner and overall winner of the day. His humility, genuine interest in our horses and all round friendliness was so heartwarming. What an incredible athlete! You should have seen the size of his quads! We had so many well-wishers come to see Tissy and take pictures that I felt swept up and barely able to take it all in. Riding it with Kate and Nessie made it all the more fun and I wouldn’t change a single element of our day. It is a memory I will treasure forever, Tissy even got an award for being the oldest horse to complete the course!