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Long
Island Riders to Compete at Inner Vision Championships for
Riders with a Disability
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HUNTINGTON,
NY- July 5, 2002- Three Long Island equestrians will compete at
the Inner Vision Championships for Riders with a Disability (IVC)
July 9-11 at Willow Tree Farm at Caumsett State Historic Park
in Huntington, NY.
Maryellen King of Uniondale, NY, is a Grade I rider, the most
physically impaired of all grades. Competing at the Walk only,
King has been riding for ten years. In 1999, she was the United
States Cerebral Palsy Athletic Association’s (USCPAA) Reserve
Hi-Point rider for Grade I. The Inner Vision Championships will
be her first international competition.
Joining King at the Inner Vision Championships will be Keith Newerla
of Seaford, NY. The 19-year-old Grade II rider, who attends Southwest
State University in Marshall, MN on a Wheelchair Basketball scholarship,
has been competing in equestrian events at the local, regional
and national level for the past 9 years. He has been named to
the U.S. team for the Mills Team Challenge, a dressage competition
for young riders with disabilities, at the North American Young
Riders’ Championships in Wadsworth, IL, in August.
Jennifer
Clayton, from Huntington, NY, also plans to compete at the Inner
Vision Championships. Clayton has been blind from diabetes for
five years, and started riding in
2000.
She has competed in Pennsylvania and at the Long Island Invitational
Horse Show for Riders with Disabilities, and has given riding
demonstrations using "living letters" where people help
blind riders be aware of where they are in the competition arena.
Clayton will be competing in the novice division.
Unlike
any other equestrian event, the upcoming Inner Vision Championships
for Riders with a Disability (IVC) challenges physically impaired
and able-bodied riders to experience competition from the other’s
point of view.
Top
riders from 6 countries will also participate in the Inner Visions
Championships, an unprecedented dressage competition that has
been approved and recognized by the International Paralympic Equestrian
Committee (IPEC). Riders from Canada, Great Britain, Germany,
Israel, Japan and the United States will compete in team and individual
events.
A
highlight will be the compulsory freestyle competition featuring
individual tests designed by each rider and set to music. These
gifted equestrians, performing tests written specifically for
riders with disabilities, have only three days to train with borrowed
horses assigned to them by a “draw” on July 9.
Training
sessions will be held July 9-11, with a warm-up competition on
July 12. Individual championship competition will begin at 8 a.m.,
Saturday, July 13, followed by musical freestyle competition at
1 p.m. Admission is free and the public is invited.
The
IVC is co-hosted by the National Disability Sports Alliance (NDSA)
and Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Inc. Both are 501(c)3 organizations.
NDSA
is responsible for the development and selection of riders for
national championship and international competitions, including
the Paralympic Games. It provides training, competition and advocacy
for riders with physical disabilities.
Pal-O-Mine
Equestrian Inc. is a therapeutic riding program located in Huntington,
NY, that provides therapeutic, recreational and competitive horseback
riding opportunities for people with physical, emotional and cognitive
disabilities
For
more information on the Championships, contact Denise Avolio at
(914) 949-8166 or diavolio@ndsaonline.org
or Lisa A. Gatti, competition manager, at (631) 427-6105 or info@pal-o-mine.org.
The
website address for the Inner Vision Championships is www.pal-o-mine.org.
