Lockdown lives
Living through the COVID 19 crisis in 2020 is something none of us will ever forget. Elizabeth Peplow finds out how the endurance community has coped‌
We are all
in this together
Being so heavily involved in both work's and Endurance GB's Covid responses has been quite stressful and has involved long hours, so I haven't done much relaxing. My coping mechanism is throwing myself into the recovery work, as I have to look forwards to keep myself sane.
On lockdown fitness
Both I and the horses are extremely unfit. Because I was ill, I haven't been up to exercising so have gone to seed! I am now starting to feel that I could go for a walk without it knocking me out for a week, so I am starting to do a little bit more exercise.
On the endurance community
Esther Young Civil Servant and EGB Operations Director
How were you affected?
I'm fairly sure I have had Covid 19, but until antibody testing is available I won't know for sure. I didn't have it badly, but it did take a long time to fully shake it. The day job has been extremely busy. I hold (and wrote) our business continuity plan so I have been working flat out helping several thousand staff completely change the way they work and continue to deliver critical activities. I've also been working with the Endurance GB Board and ride organisers on our shutdown and resumption plans. It was heart-breaking seeing the season that everyone had worked so hard on pulling together fall apart in front of us.
On coping with lockdown
On the one hand we've been very lucky. We now have the horses at the end of the garden and I can work from home easily. It's just turning into Groundhog Day. I live in Yorkshire and my family are in South London and Salisbury so that has been difficult. My 79 year old mother has now embraced Skype, and my brother and sister in law (with two lively under 6s) tell me that their trampoline has been a literal lifesaver!
20
community
I have been blown away by the phenomenal support and understanding that the Endurance GB community has shown. Whether that is looking out for each other, getting stuck into the lockdown activities, or thinking outside the box to enable events later in the year to have a reasonable chance of going ahead. I need to particularly thank the Board and all of our ride and group event organisers. You are all amazing. A special thank you also to John Hudson, Nick Wallbridge and Matt Shovelton (the IT team) who have worked wonders on using the downtime to ramp up the delivery of Clubhouse, to the amazing Liz Hinings who has been updating the website, to Jane Greatorex, Richard Crone and Elaine Wallbridge who have helped with our post lockdown event guidance, and to Liz Peplow who has worked her magic with our comms. Everyone has really pulled it out of the bag to ensure that we have a solid and viable society to go forward with.
Next steps
At the moment we are planning for our first pleasure rides, and I must admit I will probably have a little blub to myself when the first one goes ahead. Once we understand the implications of the next stage of lockdown relaxation we can refine our processes and perhaps run some smaller competitive rides. #WeWillRideAgain From a personal point of view, I would dearly love to finally get my pony out to a pleasure ride or two later in the year.
endurance | endurancegb.co.uk
