They took the height – Style – Kommersant

On September 10 and 11, in the capital, at the site of the Center for National Equestrian Traditions at VDNKh, the Days of Equestrian Sports festival was held, organized by the Russian Equestrian Federation (FCSR) together with the largest operator of data centers in the CIS for the placement of equipment for energy-intensive and blockchain computing by BitRiver . Within the framework of the festival, the best riders from Russia and foreign masters performed at the show jumping tournament for two days. They fought for winning places and a part of the impressive prize fund, which amounted to 3.3 million rubles. Among the athletes participating in the tournament were world-class equestrian stars such as Natalia Simonia, Alexander Belekhov, Mikhail Safronov, Ksenia Khairulina and many others. Everyone could support the riders – the entrance to the stands on the Day of the City of Moscow was free.

Jumping is one of the most spectacular types of equestrian sport, where the horse under the rider overcomes obstacles placed on the show jumping field in a certain order. The height of the obstacles on the course can vary from 50 cm (for pony riders) to 160 cm (standard for the Olympic Games and World Championships).

On the first day of the festival at VDNKh, competitions were held on several routes, the most striking of which, perhaps, was the Jump & Drive route, where the first part of the distance is covered by participants on horseback, and the second part is driven by a car. Master of sports of international class Sergey Petrov won this distance, who not only brilliantly led his horse – gelding of the Belgian warm-blooded breed named Galileo Sky, but also a unique car – a rare 1937 GAZ M1. By the way, the Emka for the competition was provided by the Special Purpose Garage Museum, also located on the territory of VDNKh.

Duets took part in the team route, taking symbolic names in honor of the main sights and streets of Moscow for the 875th anniversary of the capital. Natalia Simonia and Irina Fedotova won the 140 cm obstacle course – this team with the name “Moscow Kremlin” showed the best result.

The key and most spectacular event of the first day of the tournament with an obstacle height of 150 cm, with powerful jumps and high speeds was the Grand Prix of the Cup of the Vice-President of the FKSR Khizir Atakuev. The winner of the Cup was Natalia Simonia, a multiple winner and prize-winner of all-Russian and international competitions, a participant in the European Championships, the World Equestrian Games in France and the World Cup final. However, it was not easy for her to get the first place: she had to prove her leadership in an additional round, competing for victory with Sergey Petrov. For a jump, the height of the obstacles was increased to 160 cm, but Natalia flawlessly led her partner, the Hanoverian stallion Quarenghi, through the shortened distance. Sergey Petrov, who rode the mare Baladin du Shanu, made one unfortunate mistake and eventually took second place. The top three was closed by Natalya Kurguzova.

The winners of the Cup Grand Prix were awarded by Marina Sechina, President of the Russian Equestrian Federation. “It is no coincidence that our event is held in Moscow – it is timed to coincide with such a big holiday as City Day. The competitions were held in a very friendly atmosphere, we tried to make as many spectators fall in love with equestrian sport,” said Mrs. Sechina.

“Today, when our Russian athletes are limited in their ability to perform at large global venues, it is necessary to organize and conduct local private tournaments. Business, public organizations and simply caring people willingly support equestrian sport. Our tournament is a vivid evidence of this,” said Khizir Atakuev, vice-president of the FKSR, in turn.

Also in the Saturday program of the festival was the route “Killout”, where children performed in pairs on ponies. And in between the competitions, there was a show program introducing the guests of the event with all the variety of equestrian disciplines: there were performances by dressage riders, pony show jumping, an exclusive program from riders of the Kremlin Riding School, as well as a special number with trained ponies and horses from Nina Prince.

On Sunday, the second day of the festival, the sporting fortune switched to the side of foreign riders. Two out of three routes were won by show jumpers from Uzbekistan. Bahromjon Gaziev opened the day with a bright victory on the Jump & Drive route. In the team standings, representatives of Uzbekistan Bezod Kurbanov and Nurzhon Tuyakbaev, who played for the team called MSU, took third place. The Dream Island team, consisting of Diana Kurochkina and Maria Simakhodskaya, took second place, and the Moscow City team, represented by Sergey Petrov and Anastasia Shcherbakova, won the gold of the absolute championship after two days.

The main event of the final tournament day was the Grand Prix course with obstacles up to 150 cm high, where 23 riders competed for the BitRiver Cup and the main prize from the sponsor – bitcoin. The fight was serious, and five sports couples went to the jump-off. Only Mikhail Shemshelev managed to clear the shortened distance on Londons Longshot and Nurzhon Tuyakbaev on Lancelotte. Nurzhon Tuyakbaev turned out to be faster – he became the owner of the BitRiver Cup and the main prize.

“Jumping is a great example of a tandem between man and nature, where the strength of character and mutual respect of the rider and horse are above all else. This sport perfectly develops a person physically, promotes emotional and psychological harmony, brings up high moral ideals. I am glad that there is an opportunity to popularize the values ​​and aesthetics of show jumping, and I want to assure that BitRiver will continue to hold such tournaments in the future and contribute to the development of this sport in Russia,” promised Igor Runets, founder and CEO of BitRiver.

Over the course of two days, the Days of Equestrian Sports at VDNKh was visited by many famous and high-ranking people. Including watched the show jumping competitions and the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov. He agreed that equestrian sport is “a very spectacular and noble sport that needs to be popularized.” “The Russian Equestrian Federation is doing a lot of work in this direction. This sport is increasingly being promoted in all regions of our country – this is a great success,” said Dmitry Peskov.

The press secretary of the head of state also added that the interest in equestrian sports is evidenced by the large number of people who came to watch the competitions on the City Day at VDNKh.