Face to face Gianfranco Nassini: when there is passion

Gianfranco Nasini is a Tuscan equestrian technician, and we decided to interview him because, he and a few of his friends, decided to come to together and organize an equestrian endurance event, despite not owning or running a Horse Racing centre.
The race will be held in the Valle del Casentino, near Arezzo, on the 17th of May.
The thing which impressed us the most is the scope of the event. There will involve only one category, the lowest, the ‘entry level’, the 30km race. For those who are not familiar with the event we will explain it, the 30km category is like the BP80 in show jumping, and now a non-horse-racing centre has decided to organize this to try and garner the youngest riders, at their first experience, and hopefully help them gain experience and improve.
We had a few questions for Mr. Gianfranco Nassini.
Where did the idea of holding a race for just one category come from?
The idea is the result of a group of friends who are all truly passionate about the endurance discipline. After a number of experiences on the field, even at international we decided to bet on our own potential and on the beauty of our land.
We realised, competing in a number of events all over Italy, that there is little generational turnover in our country. I should qualify that, there are a lot of youngster who would truly like to get involved in this sport, but most are convinced that it will be difficult, or almost impossible enter into this wonderful world.
Competing in a 30km race in the midst of the “super-riders” battling it out to win the longer races can be difficult for the youngsters who lack experience, and that is why we decided tot dedicate this event to just the one category, it seems like the best solution to us.
But how can you organize an event when you don’t have your own centre?
It was not difficult to overcome this problem, because we contacted a friend of ours who owns a private structure, we presented our proposal to him and his positive respond did not take long.
Once we had all the necessary documentation to be affiliated with Fise, with sent off our request and now we are getting ready to host the event, set to work for the good of the young endurance hopefuls.
Have you already been contacted by possible applicants?
Yes, plenty of people contacted us, and we hope to reach about 30 starters, that would be a great starting point, with the hope of growing for next year.
But will date of your event no get in the way of the Tuscan regional championships?We looked at the Tuscan calendar, and we found a date which we thought was ‘neutral’, to try and avoid interfering with anyone else.We would like to extend our compliments to the Casentino Endurance Association, the minds behind such a brilliant idea, and a great example to follow.Interview by Horse Show Jumping – L.G.