International Mounted Games Exchange Report Alberta Canada 2009
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International Mounted Games Exchange Report Alberta Canada 2009 “GOLD TO AUSTRALIA” Left to Right Di Harris (Chaperone NSW), Brad Ward (SA), Harriet Haddleton (WA), Gareth Farmer (NSW), Rhys Farmer (NSW), Jacob Gliddon (WA), Dave Harris (Coach NSW) Prepared by Harriet Haddleton 1201 Railway Parade, Bullsbrook, Western Australia 6084 27th July 2009 Training Camp Our journey begins with Jacob and I flying to Canberra on Friday 19th June 2009 Friday 19 Jun 09 1200 hrs, start the wood fired oven in preparation for Pizzas for dinner around 1900 1430 - Dave moves to Canberra Airport Pick up Bradley from SA 1530 Canberra airport ; Pick up Harriet and Jacob from WA at Canberra airport 1630– Depart with the three riders for ‘Akoonah’ (Dave and Di’s place) - should arrive around 1800 Farmers arrive sometime after 1800, Support crew arrival TBC. Diane to gather and hold all passports and other necessary documentation / medication. Male and Female dormitories established. 1900 build, cook and eat Pizzas Meet and greet - Lights out 2230Hrs Saturday 20 Jun 09 0700 hrs – feed horses, 0730 – 0830 breakfast and household chores, 0830 – 0930 Team discussion – develop training schedule for the morning 0930 – 10 00 set up games arena 1000 - 1030 Prep horses and saddle up (it should be starting to warm up by then) 1030 – 1200 Practice horse marry – up, handovers and races in accordance with schedule agreed at the morning team meeting. 1200 – 1220 Put horses away. 1220 – 1250 Prepare for lunch. 1250 – 1330 Lunch 1330 – 1400 Team Meeting to discuss morning session and address ideas for improvement. 1400 – 1430 - Prep horses and saddle up 1430 – 1600 – Practice 1600 – 1640 Put horses away, feed and rug Restaurant in Yass (Gentlemen to wear Tie and long sleeved shirt, jacket / jumper please) 1800 – 1840 Move to Ewe & Me 1840 – 2130 Dinner – best manners (Rhys and Gareth recommend the “Nutty Balls” for Desert – I suspect Sarah will again not be overly amused) 2130 – 2210 Move to Akoonah. 2230 lights out Sunday 21 Jun 09 0700 hrs – feed horses, 0730 – 0830 breakfast and household chores, 0830 – 0950 Team discussion 0950 - 1020 Prep horses and saddle up 1020 – 1200 Practice horse marry – up, handovers and races in accordance with schedule agreed at the morning team meeting. 1200 – 1220 Put horses away. 1220 – 1250 Prepare for lunch. 1250 – 1330 Lunch (light wood fired oven for backed dinner) 1330 – 1400 Team Meeting to discuss morning session and address ideas for improvement. 1400 – 1430 - Prep horses and saddle up 1430 – 1530 – Practice 1530 – 1600 Put horses away, feed and rug - Pack up games arena 1830 Dinner 1930 – 2000 Clean and disinfect all riding gear going to Canada. 2000 – 2130 Practice team speeches 2130 – 2200 team discussion re conduct of the tour 2230 Lights out Monday 22 Jun 09 0730 feed horses 0800 – 0900 Breakfast 0900 – 1000 team discussion – select indicative racing order for each of he 16 races, and discuss tactics/ conduct both, on tour and during championship 1000 – 1100 – Pack up – clean up prepare to depart for Sydney. 1100 Depart for the farmers house 1500 arrive the Farmers house Fit in as part of the Farmer family – rehearsal for billeting arrangements in Canada Tuesday 23 Jun 09 0520 - Rise and shine - breakfast 0600 - Pack cars and depart for Sydney International airport – winter clothing bags left with the Farmers for pick up on return to Australia. (Diane will hold the team First aid kit for the tour) 0800 - Arrive Sydney International 1030 Depart. Camp and Flight Report by Dave Harris (Coach) The training camp at David and Di Harris’ place went well, albeit that the weather was cold and wet on the Sunday. The Farmer twins nominated the Potato picking scramble as their favorite race and forgave Dave his mistake in “recalling” that the time allocated was 2 minutes per pair (when actually the rules say between 1 and 1.5 minutes per pair – the work rate required to sustain the ad- ditional 30 seconds is considerable). Harriet proved to have the softest hand in the 5 flag race, Brad rode the difficult horses very well, Jake showed strength and control, Rhys has been nominated as the team’s primary caller with Gareth as the secondary caller. The team dinner on the Saturday night at the Ewe and Me Restaurant in Yass was a quiet and dignified occasion with the house desert (called number 10 on the menu {the Nutty Balls}) be- ing a favorite. Dave and Di and the team would like to extend a heartfelt Thank You to: Lauren Slater, Sophie Harrison, Sarah North and Pat Ryan for their assistance during the camp - and for lending horses, the Slaters, Purdee, Harrisons and Livermore families. Jo Farmer drove the three hours to Dave and Di’s place to assist with transporting the team to their Sydney residence, which was the step off point for the airport. Our thanks to Rob and Jo, Amy and Brooke for the wonderful roast dinner and for opening their house to us on the eve of our departure. Rob loaded the trailer with our bags and drove the team to the air- port. The 5:30 AM departure from the Farmers house allowed us to see Rhys’ ‘morning face’. It is fair to say that Rhys needs a stiff cuppa in the mornings to get “up and atem”. The Air Canada flights were long but thankfully uneventful. Few of us slept on the crowded jet, but the individualized TV screens and good variety of movies and shows helped to while away the 14 hours from Sydney to Vancouver and the 1.5 hours from Vancouver to Edmonton. We met Mr Del Zelmer (the chairman of the Canadian Pony club committee organising this year’s championship) at the Edmonton airport and he escorted Dave, Jake and Rhys to their hotel while Di, Harriet, Gareth and Brad took the slow shuttle bus. As with a mounted games race the fastest team between point A and B are not necessarily the fastest overall – Di and the bus guys were in their rooms and trying out the gym and Spa before Dave, Rhys and Jake arrived at the hotel. The boys gave the weight room a thorough testing and all slept well in the spacious rooms provided by the Delta Hotel. Di, Rhys and Jake bought local phones and worked out how to call home but all found that the generous call provisions in the contracts did not extend to overseas calls. At least they can receive cheaper incoming calls now. After an afternoon nap, the team went for a pedestrian tour of the Edmonton City precinct and found it to be very quiet in a Canberra sort of way. Dinner was at Subway where the team donated small change so a polite local, down on his luck, could buy a healthy foot long sub and he demolished it with gusto. Check-out of the hotel will be at 1200 hrs and our transport to the international team meet- ing camp will be provided by two local families from 1300 hrs. Comments and recollections from Gareth on behalf of the team. “The team arrived in Canada, tired due to the lack of sleep on the plane and had to stay awake all day so we could get comfortable with the new time zone. We are having a great time in this spacious hotel. Aircraft food, we all think we have had better, although we eat it, we eat it because we were starving. Harriet got special treatment with her vegetarian meals which did not look all that appetising to me! We also found coffee is better in Australia! And our “Mackers” is not so greasy as the Canadian McDonnalds. The spa in this first hotel where I am now is great. The whole team can fit and its hot and relaxing after the long flight. Jake’s bag weighed in at 32 kg, with him taking stuff out it was 35 before, and it “just” exceeded the 23 kg mark haha. Brad learnt how to iron his first shirt, unlike Jake, he still needs to learn how, haha. We all had a little preparation speech at Mr and Mrs Harris’ house, now I look back and Di didn’t say hers. Mr Harris had asked Rhys and myself to get the wood fire oven arked up on the Friday afternoon, so we did. You should of seen the look on his face, we then realised we got it really arked up, just a little too much, he said it was like a forge haha. Harriet is our little sister. We aren’t hassling her to much. Although she generously handed out Jake’s lollies and tim tams on the plane which she eat most of the pack herself.” Canadian Itinerary Wednesday June 24 Teams arrive at Edmonton International Airport Teams transported to Camp Nakamun near Busby, Alberta 2:00 onward Check-in at Camp Nakamun 9:00 P.M. Welcome and orientation Thursday June 25 On site activities at Camp Nakamun 7:00 P.M. Briefing Session Friday June 26 10:00 Check-out and board bus for Fort Edmonton 12:00 – 3:30 Tour Fort Edmonton 3:30 Meet & Depart with Billet Families Saturday June 27 12:00 Teams with Billet Families at West Edmonton Mall Sunday June 28 2:00 Maple Leaf Melange 5:00 Dinner on-site following competition Monday June 29 11:00 Board bus for Calgary 4:00 Meet & Depart with Billet Families from Spruce Meadows Tuesday June 30 Teams with Billet Families Wednesday July 1 Teams with Billet Families Thursday July 2 2:00 Check-in at Mount Royal College 3:00 Briefing Session 4:00 Bus leaves Mount Royal for Fort Calgary for Stampede BBQ Friday July 3 6:00 Bus leaves Mount Royal for Fort Calgary for Stampede Breakfast 9:00 – 11:00 Competitors take part in Calgary Stampede Parade 1:30 – 4:30 Attend Calgary Stampede Rodeo Free time for rest of evening at Stampede Park ( additional Charge only if interested in midway rides or tickets to the Chuck wagon Races & Grandstand Show ) 8:00 Teams stay overnight at Mount Royal College, Calgary Saturday July 4 10:30 Bus leaves for wilderness hike & BBQ in Kananaskis area