The New Albany Classics a destination for tourists

The New Albany Classic Invitational Grand Prix & Family Day

A number of top-ranked equestrian stars come to New Albany to compete in the Classic, and some of them are stopping here after a jaunt to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics.

One Olympic-caliber competitor is Leslie Howard. As a member of the United States Equestrian team, she earned a team gold medal in show jumping at the 1984 Olympics and later earned a silver medal at the 1996 games. Her career keeps her busy and she spends most of her time on the road away from her home in Newtown, Conn.

“It’s rare that I be home more than two weeks at a time,” Howard says.

Howard says she is used to it, as she has been traveling most her life. Fellow competitor Margie Engle has a different perspective.

“It’s a different lifestyle, very different from what I grew up with,” Engle says. “Not much traveling except family vacations.”

Engle has competed all over the world, including in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. She spent most of summer showing in Europe before spending a couple weeks back in America. She lives in Florida, and tries to visit her farm there as often as she can.

Howard is accompanied by a team of about seven people. She travels with approximately 20 horses and has six groomers to care for them in addition to her assistant trainer. Traveling with horses may sound difficult, but Howard says they feel pretty comfortable by now, having gotten used to it over the course of their lives.

“They’re fed on a normal basis,” she says. “It basically mimics the life they’d have at home.”

Howard says the New Albany Classic is one of her favorite events, enjoying the course and its jumps. Engle is also enthusiastic. She enjoys competing in one class for the day, as it allows her to concentrate on one horse.

Engle is also impressed with the Classic’s Family Day activities, saying it attracts a great crowd, comparing it to European audiences. Engle says show jumping is the second most popular sport in Europe, but is much less known in America. She credits Family Day activities such as the musical acts, like this year’s guest Kelsea Ballerini, for helping introduce the sport to new people.

“I think once they see it, people really enjoy watching it,” Engle says, “With so many other things going on, at the same time, they bring people in. It’s really special what they do.”

The New Albany Walking Classic

The New Albany Walking Classic draws a pool of elite competitors from near and far to compete in the unique, walking-only event.

Many of these elite athletes are race walkers, who must maintain meticulous attention to form to ensure they keep a fast pace without actually running. Among them are Omar Nash and Susan Randall.

Nash, a 42-year-old competitor hailing from Cincinnati, is a longtime athlete with an impressive track record. He ran cross country for Lindsey Wilson in Kentucky. Nash took first place in the 2015 Walking Classic half marathon with a time of 1:58:04. He has also participated in this year's Olympic trials for race walking and, in 2005, received the USA Track & Field Association President’s Award.

His 2015 Walking Classic win wasn't his first. In 2013, Nash took first place for the 10K distance with a time of 47:45, and he plans to challenge 10K again this year.

For Nash, the Walking Classic is unique. There are food samples, jackets and lots of amenities that aren’t standard in a race walk – “and the fact that, in the last several years, there’s been at least one person who’s competed at the Olympic trials competing in the event,” he says.

This year, Nash is among those Olympic trial athletes, having completed the Olympic 50K trials in 10th place at 5:23:50.

Susan Randall, 41, also plans to return to the Walking Classic this year.

Randall moved to U.S. from her native China in 2001. Since then, she has placed fifth in the USATF national 20K championships and has qualified for the Olympic trials in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

Despite her impressive athletic resume, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that Randall began running and participating in races.

“Most coaches in America said it was too late to start (racing),” says Randall.

That certainly did not deter Randall from the track and race walk scenes.

“My husband was doing like triathlons and Ironmans and everything,” says Randall, “I was sitting there and watching him race and I got bored.”

Now, race walking has taken Randall all over the world, to places such as Slovakia, Canada, El Salvador and Switzerland. But even after traveling around the globe to race, Randall still enjoys the Walking Classic.

“I love the (Walking) Classic,” says Randall. “All the volunteers and all the neighborhood come out to it and cheer, people play music on the side of the road. You never know what kind of things you’re going to see.”

Lindsey Capritta and Hailey Stangebye are contributing writers. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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