2012: Wet And Wonderful

The Wonderful - History In The Making - The Unassailable Michael Jung Adds "Olympic Champion" To His CV

The Wet - A Common Sight All Year Despite An Official Drought

The 2012 Eventing season was ushered in with so much anticipation, and with a resoundingly great start in March, it was hard to imagine anything could slow the momentum,  prior to what would ultimately become the biggest and best Olympics the sport had ever seen. Weather patterns across the northern hemisphere caused havoc and unleashed extreme climate conditions. Whilst the US went from high, dry temperatures in the summer adversely affecting crop yields, to the flooding and devastating hurricanes along the eastern seaboard that left millions of lives in tatters or lost as far north as New York City, here in the UK mother nature threw everything she could at us as we experienced our wettest draught on record, forcing cancellation of the vast majority of events in the British calendar.

In spite of all this we built the greatest show on earth and the world's eventing nations sent their elite riders to challenge each other for the most coveted prizes in the sport - Olympic Medals.

Running The Ridgeway - #RWBAM

Charlie Massey's Bumper Sticker Says It All

Charlie [The Coffee Man] Massey's bumper sticker sums up his next few days succinctly - I Run Far! At 9AM this morning Charlie set off on the first leg of an 87 mile run along what is thought to be Britain's oldest road, The Ridgeway (est. 5,000 years old), a journey that will take him 4 days to complete.

In case you haven't been following Charlie on Twitter (and you should), the reason our Eventing Barista is running up hill and down dale is to raise funds for Spinal Research. During this epic run Charlie will have notched up over 2,000 miles this year, raising much needed funds for a charity our sport has a vested interest in.

Racehorses Exercising In Lambourn

I rarely travel through Lambourn in the morning these days, but I'm glad I did agree to pick Charlie up at his finishing stage for today and ferry him to the start over near Marlborough - From Seven Barrows To Long Barrows! As you may have seen from my tweet early this morning, you can get one of the best views in England on a winter's morning here in Lambourn as the racehorses gallop up the hills and saunter back during the early morning mists as dawn breaks.