Christoph Schork's World Record

Kevin Myers, Easycare Inc, September 20

Christoph Schork is the world record holder for the number of first place finishes at endurance events. Christoph won his 200th race on Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the Las Cienega 100 mile event. More than 25% of those wins were achieved since December 2008 using Easyboot Glue-Ons.

Christoph boasts an astonishing 92% completion rate across more than 21,000 competition miles with more than 80 Best Condition awards and beats the next most-winning rider by more than 50 wins.

Born in Germany in 1953, Christoph was raised on a dairy farm and rode his first horse at the age of three as part of the annual town parade. Each year the horses in the parade would wind their way through town to a spring in the woods where the Catholic Priest would bless the horses before the riders set off into the countryside to ride. What an image.

To say that Christoph is competitive would be an understatement. Growing up as a gymnast from the age of six, he also took up running, track and field (3,000 – 5,000 meters), cross country skiing, triathlon, archery, biathlon, rowing, mountain bike racing and downhill ski racing. He also participated in other extreme sports such rock climbing, white-water kayaking and mountaineering. He has climbed to the 24,590-foot summit of Peak Somoni (formerly Peak Communism) in the Pamir mountains in northwest Tajikistan.

His interest in horses has never waned. He competed in some dressage as a juvenile: he enjoyed the discipline, the precision, being one with the horse and the need to pay attention to detail. But he did not particularly like to be confined – something he says he dislikes to this day. Even when he was competing as a gymnast, he was envious of his friends who were cross-country running because they were outdoors.

Christoph was in his 30s when he first heard about endurance riding through Ride & Tie events in the Salt Lake City area. He particularly enjoyed working in partnership with the horse: the combination of riding and running.

His first endurance race was in 1986 as a non-AERC member. His first official recorded start was in 1988 with a horse named Dahn Hallany. “My knowledge of horses was very limited back then. I knew a little bit about breeding, but Bob and Arlene Morris were of great help as early mentors.” He still keeps in touch with them today. “You should take time to learn,” he says, “because if you don’t learn, you stay stagnant which is akin to going backwards.”

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