{"piano":{"sandbox":"false","aid":"u28R38WdMo","rid":"R7EKS5F","offerId":"OF3HQTHR122A","offerTemplateId":"OTQ347EHGCHM"}}
Trending:

Tears, tattoos and a 40-year wait: how the national champion completed her second 160km ride

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • The reigning national endurance champion tells Martha Terry about the full-circle moment of completing her second 160km ride, her sport’s unique camaraderie and what makes a horse a winner, in this exclusive article for H&H subscribers

    Endurance rider Emma Martin was 12 years old when she completed her first 160km ride. Nearly 40 years on, last season she bagged her second – and with it the title of national champion.

    As Emma and two other top endurance riders, Amie Grainger and Victoria Davies, were tackling the final loop of the 160km, she admits fighting back the tears. After some 14 hours in the saddle, when the enormity of their imminent achievement began to soak in, they laughed, cried and discussed getting tattoos to mark the moment.

    Just as she had as a determined 12-year-old – the youngest rider on the smallest horse – in 2025 Emma had set her sights on the 160km goal. One-day rides at this maximum distance are rare in the UK – maybe just one or two a season. So Emma clubbed together with Amie and Victoria to request the ride to be put on, at Thetford.

    “The three of us rode round together, vetted together and finished together,” Emma says. “To achieve 100% success round a 160km is almost unheard of. There were tears – it was such a sense of relief and achievement.

    “We talked all the time, except on the last loop when we were all trying not to cry. You remember the little things, like a pig running towards us and getting zapped by an electric fence. We talked about getting tattoos, but I’m quite glad that’s gone quiet as I don’t like pain!

    Finishing an endurance race. Riders hugging, grey horse watching on

    The relief and elation as crew members hug after completing.

    You may also enjoy reading…

    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

    You may like...