20/07/2026
Cirencester 3-day 160km ☀️
Last Thursday Me, sharqui and crew Headed down to Circenster, in hope of doing The 3 day 160km GER.
Thursday we set up the coral (in the blazing hot sun) wondering what on earth we were thinking doing a 160 in the following few days 😆
After a few long hot hours it finally started to cool, so we took sharqui into the shade for a bit of nice grass as his coral was a bit scarce of grass and in the full sun.
Friday we woke up at 5:30am and prepared for our first 32km loop, hopefully in the cooler part of the day.
At 7am we vetted for the first time and passed and headed out, after what was an amazing first loop, full off canters and mainly in the shade, we came into our vet gate, vetted and all passed the next 32km, so we both had lots to eat and drink and sharqui had his boots put on as it was a bit rocky on the first loop.
We headed back out and took the second loop very steady as his feet were feeling a bit sore.
By this point there were no other riders out so me and sharqui were getting a bit upset on our own, so my mum suggested i played music on my phone to cheer us both up, but i dismissed the idea.
A few minutes after i put Harry Styles on my phone and played it to see if it would make us happier- and sure enough it absolutely did!!
Sharqui soon reflected my energy and was soon off cantering and enjoying himself again!!
We came back in and vetted almost immediately and all passed!
Day 1 - 64km completed ✅
Me, Barry and Angela all had some tea and an ice cream and got things together for the next day.
Saturday we got up at 6:00am and got ready for the same as day 1- two 32km loops.
We vetted a little later at 7:10am so we could let the race riders get ahead- and we passed all good for our first 32km.
We set off out with 2 front boots on and Harry styles playing and we absolutely flew around the first loop, passing some race riders as well!!
We came in and vetted quickly- passing with good gut sounds as well!!
We both ate and drink up and were well on our way again- Harry styles playing and once again he flew around again!!
However, eventually when we reached a short track with a gateway either end, sharqui was very impatient with me and didn’t go through the gate how i lined him up to, resulting in him walking me into the gate post and dragging my knee over the top and catching the spike.
But he didn’t do this just once, he did the same thing on the second gateway, causing my knee to be very bruised and needing a hospital trip later in the week 😆 (had an xray and was just a soft tissue injury, nearly all healed now)
This made me upset and quite angry at him- but after a short phone call to my mum, we were happily cantering along again smiling through the pain 😆
Day 2- 64km completed
128km done ✅
Sunday- another 5.30am start, and another quiet day out on course, we vetted and passed with the vets just mentioning he was a little footsore- and to take it steady and potentially boot all 4 off his feet- as it was his back feet he was a bit sore on, and in previous days we had just had our fronts on
So that’s exactly what we did.
We had made up good time on the previous days and so we only trotted where necessary on the first 16km loop, listening to harry styles of course 😆
We came in and he looked a lot happier trotting up this time- so we were able to go out for the last 16km loop.
We set off for the final loop, listening to Harry 😆
Sharqui was insistent on cantering in the grass, and despite me being a bit hesitant to start with, i let him.
We walked where we needed and took everything cautiously so that he didn’t get sore again, and quickly came to the venue.
We had 30 minutes to present this time as it was the final vetting, so we sloshed him and he fed his face and had a big drink, however to all off our surprises he was ready to go after 5 minutes!!
He stood absolutely wonderfully- like he had been doing all weekend- and had a heart rate of 39bpm!!!!
We did our final trot up and he was all good as well as amazing gut sounds!!
Day 3 - 32km done 👍
160km completed!! ✅
We got a grade 1- which i was not expecting coming into the weekend with the weather forecast being what it was- i was just hoping for a finish!!
We also got first place prizes (out of just me and shark 😆)
Over the weekend we also saw a range of different animals on course!
We saw:
Herd of roe deer
Fox
Owl
Fallow deer!
Me and sharqui even got interviewed by The Hoof Boot Shop about why we have renegades and why there better compared to other hoof boots!!
3 years ago, when me and shark first started, i heard of the belt buckle award and the criteria that you needed to do to qualify for it- and i couldn’t imagine us doing such a distance- and while i haven’t quite qualified for the 1 day 160 km reward- im still so happy with how far we’ve come in the 3 years- and are now doing the distances i never imagined us doing!!
One of my goals for this season wasn’t just doing this distance but it was also making it in the magazines and newspapers- as well as being featured on the main page for endurance gb, and now we’ve made it on twice- so thankyou to everyone who’s made that happen!!
Thankyou so much to my amazing crew for helping us both through it this weekend- despite the heat!!
Thankyou to all the helpers over the weekend who helped to make this ride amazing!!
Thankyou to the amazing team of vets who watched sharqui’s condition all weekend!!
Finally thankyou to all the organisers for organising such an epic ride!!
Endurance GB Young Riders
Endurance GB
Endurance GB - Derbyshire Group
Cirencester EGB endurance ride
