Rest day 26th Jan 2015

Today we are on our rest day, so following a later breakfast at 9am we were off to the market

Lots of interesting things to be bought, but as usual Michael lead the way in the shopping department

Lunch was an egyptian restaurant and we had lots of food, but weren't really sure what it was!!

In the afternoon we headed to the army military academy to watch army and navy cadets pass out. They were both from sudan and Libiya

This evening i've gone to bed early to see if it improves performance!

Evening 25th Jan 2015

Well lets just say this is a day i'd like to forget

After a quick swim to refresh at lunchtime, round 2 was going to start at 4:30pm sharp....
So the british baked in 37oC waiting to start as we were first on... it got pushed to 5pm and then finally started at 5:15pm. The cameras were there, but couldn't see a van so not convinced the live tv was accurate...

Anyway after we were nicely sweaty lets just say we didn't cover ourselves in glory... especially me!

For oranges i swapped to a different  horse, as my stallion won't do teams as too risky, given that he kicks and attacks.

First run was good both oranges but reached for the peg and missed. Then second run my line was bad, i used my legs over corrected made a total hash of it (he moves more with leg pressure than the other horse) and ended up with a big fat zero

Its day off tomorrow and Tina is threatening push ups by the pool as punishment!!

This evening was dinner at a lebanese restaurant, because we are so hungry by 10pm the british haven't managed to restrain themselves on starters so consequently feel incredibly stuffed most of the time.

The food so far has been amazing, all fresh and really good flavours... however this would not be a good trip for vegetarians or those with nut allergies!

Morning 25th Jan 2015

Well this morning is individual sword, all the team doing well apart from me, with 3 zeros i am curently trying to get sports physiology going, but do feel very despondent.

However getting tips from Mansoor and General Atef, so i will try my best to recover my dignty this afternoon

We had a good crowd and lots of cheering from school children

This afternoons session will be broadcast live on Sudan TV at 4.30pm (1.30pm GMT), you can watch live via the internet

Breakfast

Breakfast picture

Evening 24th Jan 2015

Lunch was sudanese BBQ where fresh meat was cooked for you. We had lamb, beef, and lambs liver... latter not being my favourite but was apparently very good.

I also got a taste for a local drink a mix of 7up and yogurt

After lunch we had a cool off in the pool as temperatures topped 35oC today and are forecasted to hit 37oC tomorrow!

We meet back at the ground at 4pm and started on round 2 of individual lance, having beaten myself up over this mornings performance i was pleased to pick up all my pegs.

Next came rings and peg, and all brits scored, but we didn't manage a full house, but everyone put in lots of points.

The evening was the official opening ceremony, with lots of speeches, presentations and sudanese dancing

Ind Lance Results:
Gold Egypt
Silver Qatar
Bronze Egypt

Rings
Gold, silver & bronze: Sudan

Morning 24th Jan 2015

Round one of individual lance completed. A mixed bag from team GB everyone is scoring, but Michael is the only one a full house so far

Egypt is leading, followed by Sudan, GB is closely behind and Qatar is brining up the rear.

Grooms on horses, guess which is mine.....

Horse selection 23rd jan

Just a quick one tonight

Today we had breakfast followed by a good session in the pool and even used a ball for some team bonding

Lunch followed in  rather interesting safari restaurant, where the food was excellent, but despite being outdoors I got cold in 33oC due to a misting system which sprayed water on you. However this combined with a bad fan position meant I got drenched and cold...... I am the one on the team that loves the heat!!!

Then after a quick change and grabbing our gear we headed to the track for the introduction and horse draw. This is the first competition under ITPF rules, so there were a few changes to highlight

Manager Tina does the running order draw and GB are first on!

Peter draws for his horse, carefully watched by Tina!

The horse draw was a bit complicated as the first horse we drew was very lame, they are all stallions so possible it had just been kicked.  After the rounds we ended up with a pony chestnut for Adrian guessing about 14hh at a push or smaller, a grey for Peter - Slightly bigger maybe 14.1hh, a Grey which was bigger for Michael and being greedy I have two horses which are both 14.3hh/15hh ish.  A bay who runs well and is fast and smooth, however is a horror waiting around and has a penchant for picking fights with any nearby horse and a chestnut who was a bit bouncy to stop, but is slower with a more lumpy gait, but is so much easier to handle

Worth bearing in mind these are all stallions, so prone to fighting if they get a chance!

Stock saddles are the name of the game with 3 out of 4 riders bringing Norton synthetic stock saddles with them (available from www.cotswoldsport.co.uk). These give added security and its nice to ride in a saddle you know

Practice went well although was under floodlights and the dry sand did produce a challenging haze when trying to see the peg.

Dinner was at a fish restaurant and was amazing with fresh local fish

So the competition begins tomorrow with Individual lance and rings.