Day 6 - 6 August 2000
I'm so happy that this is the last day of the 2000 North American Young Riders' Championships. The week has been extremely stressful and emotionally fatiguing.
In the evenings I was always too tired to work on the website. I know I have an audience to take care of but if you are completely drained, the only thing you can think of is sleep. In the morning I worked at the booth but round 11 AM I could see some of the freestyles. I especially liked Jacqueline Paxton's music which is actually a composition Cesar Parra had made. Louise Labrucherie was absolutely the best and she stood out by her perfection. In the afternoon I had a press conference with the individual winners and I had a fun conversation with all three of them. The closing ceremony (with the award presentation) was absolutely fabulous and simply moving.
In the evening, after the whole 'show' was over, we went out for dinner with Roxanne and Gary to the Outback Steakhouse. Mary and JJ arranged to meet our friends from Woodinville, WA, in the Holiday Inn round 7 PM. When we were in the lobby of the hotel, Lindsey McClean, the show jumping individual and team gold medallist, came in and Leah and I pinned her down for a quick interview. It took us 20 minutes and then we went up to the suite where we had a glass of wine. At the Outback we had a great Blooming Onion and steak. Just behind me there was a junior athlete of the US Figure Skating Team having dinner and we had a nice conversation with him about the way figure skaters train and such.
After dinner, I was very tired and eager to go back to the hotel. At night I had a terrible dream that my horse broke out of her stall and ran around in our garden at home.
Featured above, Leah Trunzo's personal favourite of her collection of images taken at the 2000 North American Young Riders' Championships (Rider: Carly Campbel-Cooper on Rex Get Busy)
Image by Leah Trunzo and copyrighted for Phelps Photo
No reproduction without permission/payment