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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
Marathon was filled with more than 46,000 fans. There were folks everywhere. The cross-country course looked a lot like any given Rolex Kentucky Saturday...
Cross-country brings folks out. On Marathon day, sixty percent of them are probably eventing fans. Because combined driving is a multi-element sport, we eventing fans get
it. We understand how it works. We figure it's just another great excuse to be out on the cross-country course, watching as horses fly by.
Cross-country fans come in all sizes, all physical conditions, all ages. Wheel chairs, scooter, canes, casts - to a true fan, no physical obstacle is insurmountable.
Cross-country fans are enthusiastic -
very enthusiastic or they wouldn't be trudging around out there in the beating sun and - more often than I care for - pouring rain.
I've made some life-long friends, like my photographer friends Kim and Allen, on cross-county day. We became friends while soaked to the skin, shivering - along with about 25 other soaked-to-the-skin cross-country nuts - soggy kindred spirits - packed like sardines as we waited in some dry nook or cranny of a shelter for a Rolex Kentucky Saturday deluge to pass.
I love cross-country fans for their enthusiasm. Some I love for their ability to sleep anywhere - a gift which I do not possess - but envy mightily. I love their get-ups - their nationalistic pride. They are loyal, not only to their particular home team, but also to all those who get out there and get it done. Not allowed to wave towels - that would spook the horses. Instead, the cross-country fans show their loyalty in other creative ways...
I love the fans who walk the course. I am jealous of the fans who drive the course. I wish were one of them... I love the famous fans (usually driving) who show up and drive along out there, mixing it up with the rest of us. Cross-country does that. Given the opportunity, cross-country will make fans of us all...
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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| ©2010 by Nan Rawlins/Equimage® |
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