Detection of small obstacles requires careful measurement design.
The 11-year-old German-bred gelding was error-free over 13 numbered obstacles requiring 16 jumping efforts within the 80-second time allowed in the morning round.
Raymond Texel of Beverly Hills, Calif., piloted Pershing, a 9-year-old Westphalian-bred mare, to a clear round over the 14 obstacles requiring 17 jumping efforts.
Funnell steered Primmore's Pride over the 32 numbered obstacles requiring 45 jumping efforts on the 12-mile course within the time allowed to stay six penalties ahead of her teammate William Fox-Pitt, who was riding the Irish-bred Moon Man. Irish-bred Moon Man
They beat a field of 30 qualifiers by posting a fault-free score in the first round over 14 numbered obstacles requiring 17 jumping efforts within the 1 minute 36 seconds allowed.
The show is a display of strength — to get through any of the obstacles requires more upper-body strength than I will ever hope to have — but it is also a meditation on who we are right now as a people.
Around 2,000 of us, starting in waves, set out to complete either one or two 5km laps whose 30 obstacles required us to wriggle through narrow tunnels awash with freezing mud, leap through a bonfire, climb walls of giant bales, slide into an icy pond, scramble up near vertical mudslides, wriggle on our faces under giant webs of heavy netting, and much else besides.
Overcoming such obstacles required much hard work, determination, and encouragement by his father, who "always told me to do what I love," Mena says.
For students committed to pursuing studies abroad, overcoming these obstacles requires highly competitive grades, working closely with an academic advisor, doing a little bit of research, and learning at least one, perhaps even two, foreign languages fluently.
