Riding wild in a race across Chile

We have travelled here for an equine adventure – to train for and compete in EnduranceX, a challenging horse race across private land within the stunningly beautiful national park, southern Chile.

The race, organised by polo enthusiast, Luis Enrique Opazo Baltra, has been running for several years, and is one of a number of similar endurance events that take place at different locations within Chile, including the northern desert of San Pedro de Atacama, mystical Easter Island, and the southernmost part of the continent, Tierra del Fuego.

Here at Las Torres participants choose to race between 20 and 85 km, the winner of each category being determined not only by the fastest overall time, but by the length of time taken for the horse’s heart rate to decrease during the vet checks that occur throughout and after the race.

We are using horses owned by a Chilean couple, Jos? Antonio Kusanovic and Tamara McLeod who are friends of James’s, and amongst the biggest landowners in the region.

During the weeks prior to the race we have the enviable task of doing long, fast rides across their private land in order to ensure our horses are fit enough to compete.

This area is absolute heaven for riding – it is not without gates and fences, but they are far enough apart to allow us to canter flat out for a full five minutes before we even need to think about slowing down.

Their horses are bred for this type of racing, a tough mixture of the native Criollo, with a bit of Arab thrown in, they are fast and sure-footed, and enjoy their training almost as much as their human counterparts.

The landscape here not only lends itself to pleasure riding – the terrain dictates that a horse is pretty much an essential requirement if your livelihood revolves around sheep or cattle.

One bright sunny day we help to move 200 or so sheep from one pasture to another, a full day’s slow work on hilly slopes which, once complete, ends with us racing back through the soft shadows of the valley to get home before dark.

Another day we ride up to the windswept summer land, a high grassy plateau filled with gigantic boulders. When the weather changes I am almost knocked from my saddle by a blast of the legendary Patagonian wind, but the condors have come out to play in its icy currents, and we are treated to an incredible early evening performance as they swoop overhead, graceful poise oozing from every inch of their ten foot wing span.

They say that you can experience all four seasons in one day here, and during my stay I am lucky enough to see at least two, when the landscape is transformed from autumn to winter.

Waking one morning to thick snow, we set out to ride through thigh-high drifts, our horses patient as we laugh with the excitement of riding into the unknown, rabbit tracks the only sign of life other than our hoof-prints.

If this all sounds too good to be true I should mention that after a week’s worth of pelting up and down the valley, my back was causing me the sort of pain that made laughter or coughing extremely unpleasant. I did a lot of the subsequent riding standing in my stirrups - bearable at a canter, tricky at a trot, but with the added advantage of returning home with thighs of steel.

Accommodation here is cosy, but remote, with intermittent hot water and electricity, and all wood for heating and cooking must be chopped by hand. Discomfort aside, I enjoy the “training” so much that I almost forget I am here to race, and nerves nearly get the better of me when I realise that I am one of only a handful of gringos competing against Chileans who look as though they were born in the saddle.

The day before the event we ride the horses 12km from the ranch to the nearest road, from which they are boxed an hour or so to the national park. Here, we stay at the luxurious Hotel Las Torres, a welcome treat after our rustic ranch accommodation.

The evening before the event, competitors are given a brief technical explanation of the route, in Spanish of course, of which I understand very little. In fact, the only part I manage to take in is that this April has seen a huge amount of rain, and that the river crossings will be difficult as a result.

However, I don’t quite catch what they advise you to do if you are unable to persuade your horse to enter the water...

Various circuits are displayed on a screen, but only briefly so that the routes remain relatively unknown to all participants. Riders complete a combination of one or more circuits, depending on their chosen distance category. Thankfully the circuits are marked by different coloured ribbons, so once you know which colour you are following no navigation is necessary.

The morning of the race dawns crisp and frosty and the atmosphere is electric. I struggle to stay calm so that I don’t cause my horse, Winca, to become any more excited than he already is.

We are to complete 40km and I am under strict instructions not to let him go so fast that he is disqualified at the first vet check for having too high a heart rate.

Prior to the race, each rider receives a numbered vest and competitors set off in batches of twenty or so, following a somewhat pointless ‘ladies first’ policy which dissolves into the chaos of a fast canter the moment the starting whistle sounds. The track soon narrows, and after the initial surge of adrenalin, the horses settle into their work.

The exercise of the past few weeks has transformed Winca into nothing short of a lean machine, full of energy, bounding enthusiastically through whatever lies in his path, his only goal to catch up with and overtake the horse ahead.

Along with some good gallops, the course is technically demanding in places – boggy patches, rivers, steep ascents and descents, and rock and scree to negotiate. One thing remains constant though, and that is the incredible view of the huge, haunting Torres.

I ride cautiously and we manage to pass our first vet check after 25 km with flying colours, and, still raring to go, complete our final 15 km within 40 minutes. The atmosphere is competitive, yet friendly, and I am treated with much curiosity when people realise I have travelled from London to take part in the race.

I am not sure where we are placed overall – the Chileans are only interested in the top five competitors within each category – but amazingly James is placed 3rd in the 85 km race.

For me, it really is the taking part that counts - to be racing in such an exciting event in the shadow of Las Torres is unique, and to ride with the locals and join in their celebrations afterwards takes you far from the tourist trail that usually leads people to this part of the globe.

This is a very special corner of the world, the landscape almost painfully beautiful at times, and I hope to be lucky enough to return next year and take on the baqueanos in the 85 km race.

INFO BOX

For further information about taking part in endurance races throughout Chile visit www.endurancex.com

Jose Antonio and Tamara hope to offer training and participation in the Torres del Paine race as a package in time for next year’s event, April/May 2010. At present, they offer day rides through the beautiful countryside at one of their estancias. Visit www.pingosalvaje.com for more information.

Travelling independently to Torres del Paine national park: Return flights to Punta Arenas, Chile, currently cost £773 with Lan Chile, via Madrid and Santiago. From here it is a 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales, approximately £5 one way, and a further 2 hours to Torres del Paine, approximately £10 one way. You can also fly to El Calafate, Argentina, currently £765 with Aerolineas Argentinas, via Madrid and Buenos Aires.