San Diego rider, Rufus Schneider, and her partner, Tom Johnson, repeated a feat accomplished only once before in the history of Ride & Tie. On June 16 Schneider became the second woman ever to win the Ride & Tie World Championship since the sport’s inception in 1971. The 34-mile race, which combined two runners taking turns riding their team horse across a rugged hilly course, took place in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California.

Rufus Schneider at the start of the 2005 Ride & Tie Championship in Libby, MT. Photo: Corey Rich

At the tail end of the race another record was set. Madison Trocha, 9, became the youngest runner to ever compete in the Ride & Tie World Championship. Madison partnered with her horse Barbie and her father Bob Trocha to best the previous youngest record, set by a 10-year-old girl in 1983. The oldest person completing this year’s championship race was 72 years of age.
Schneider refused to say she had her eyes on the prize going into the race. In fact, she had warned ultra-runner partner Tom Johnson that she was probably cursed. In all her years racing in the Ride & Tie World Championship, she had never placed higher than second in her division. Winning overall would break her streak and garner the team $1000 for the top man-women team, and the coveted Pat’s Purse of $1000, as Schneider has no previous championship wins to her name. Johnson has won the World Championship previously, first in 1991 and most recently in 2000. As a runner, he has also won the 100 mile Western States Trail Run.
“We had a flawless race, everything just clicked and the horse was amazing,” reported Schneider. She didn’t think Johnson would partner with her for the Championship, even after they won a smaller event last fall. “He’s Tom Johnson. I didn’t think I could compete at that level.”
Explaining their race strategy, Schneider reports they ran into a common situation. Closely chased by top teams, she spooked and wanted to ride Koona faster in the first half. Johnson however held steady and kept her on pace, preserving the horse for later in the race and everything went according to plan.

“Tom is a great strategist,” said Schneider.
Century in the Saddle award, which goes to the highest placed team with a combined runner’s age of 100 or more, went to last year’s World Champions and this year’s second place team of brothers-in-laws Jim Howard and Tom Gey riding Magic Sirocco. Howard made news last year winning a record ninth World Championship mere months after nearly being killed by a falling tree that put him in intensive care for a week. As the first place M/M team, Howard and Gey earned a $1000 purse.
Also in the money was fourth place team Mark Richtman and Mary Tiscornia, the top team in the M/W category. Richtman is a former Ride & Tie World Champion with seven titles to his name. Richtman’s 1994 world title is shared with the only previous female world champion, Debbie Wagner. Tiscornia is well known on the Ride & Tie circuit as the only person to have started all 37 Championship races. This year her daughter Jennifer Tiscornia walked away with the top horse honors.
Jennifer Tiscornia teamed with Heidi Clare Lambert for sixth place overall, and their horse Lakota Mare was awarded the veterinarians’ prize for Best Condition. Lakota Mare had to significantly impress the vet staff to win the honor, as the elapsed time between her finish and the first horse’s finish counts against her in the judging.
The footing for the 2007 Ride & Tie World Championship was kind to the equestrian athletes with very good trails, but the course profile wasn’t easy. There were two climbs of over 1000 feet each. In between the climbs was a drop of 2200 feet in less than four miles. A twisting single-track trail through the giant redwood forests favored the sure-footed. At the top of the first major hill it began to rain lightly on race day, cooling human and equine athletes. Hail was reported by some.
With the cool temperatures, the event was run faster than expected. While each Championship is designed to see top teams finish in approximately four hours, this course was completed and the race was won in three hours and 11 minutes. Per tradition, and regardless of completion time, each runner whose team successfully completed the course and passed the final veterinarian check went home with a handsome commemorative belt buckle engraved with the event, date and location of their huge achievement.