One of South Africa's finest endurance riders again excelled in the month of October.
Tara-Lea van Zyl did not just claim a third place consecutively at the SANESA National Schools Endurance Championship on 3 October, she also became the youngest rider in Africa to complete a 1000km endurance ride.
The 17-year-old Tara-Lea from Eunice Girls' School defended her national title at the national schools endurance championship and completed the 80km in 3hrs 28min 51 sec. She competed against 41 riders from across the country.
She was selected for the SANESA National Endurance team and is currently ranked first in the national team. Tara-Lea's horse, La'El Shariki, also won the prestigious ERASA award for the best-conditioned horse.
She didn't stop there. Her attention then shifted to the Sandymount Express 1000km endurance challenge that was also held at Fauresmith from 3-10 October.
It is the second year that this endurance ride took place at the Sandymount Park nature reserve. Nine riders competed in very challenging conditions, having to show horsemanship under extreme conditions.
Despite the severe heat and windy conditions, Tara-Lea completed the 1000km in an overall time of 63 hrs and 41 min. She passed 40 veterinary checks, used 9 different horses without any eliminations or penalty points against them.
On Saturday she came into the stadium with motivational music and finished the gruelling 8-day-challenge on one of the nine horses, Abhaki Mawadi. She is the youngest and first girl in Africa to complete a 1000km ride under regulations of an endurance riding society. 
"It was really just an amazing experience. I was very emotional when I came in. Realising that I had completed the ride was amazing. I am still a little bit stiff. Luckily I started practising 11 weeks before the time," says Van Zyl.
Earlier this year she became the first endurance rider from the Free State to be included in the South African schools endurance team. She competed in a 90km endurance ride in the Fontainebleau forest in France that took place on 27 March.
She completed the 90km course in 5 hours and 37 minutes. Tara-Lea was then awarded a plaque from the Grand Parquet Endurance for completing the very difficult 90km amateur competition.
For now the multi-talented endurance rider is just focused on doing her best for the national team. – Mark Steenbok
mark@centralmediagroup.co.za