Endurance athlete Stephen Rojek was named the recipient of the 2009 Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award. The award, sponsored by Gold Medal Farm's Larry and Valerie Kanavy, is given out annually to the Endurance Rider who earns the most points in a competition year at designated FEI Endurance competitions.

Rojek (South Woodstock, VT) won the Ocala CEI3* with Sambet and had top 10 finishes at the Williston CEI2* and the Morriston CEI3* (both in Florida) and at the Chester CEI3* in Georgia.

Rojek was honored to receive this award in honor of his great friend Maggy Price. Price is considered by many to be responsible for bringing USA Endurance into the international spotlight. The Endurance community suffered a huge loss when Price passed away in 2007.

"Maggy was a great friend of ours," said Rojek. "I met Maggy and her daughter Meg in a corn field in Maryland while we were on a 100-mile competitive trail ride in 1977. The following year we traveled together to ride and complete the Tevis Cup and we have been great friends ever since. Dinah and I traveled extensively with Maggy to exotic places like China, Tibet, Morocco, India, Ladakh, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. It was Maggy Price who urged USEF to acknowledge endurance riding as a recognized discipline. Maggy Price exemplified endurance riding with class and flair and it is a real honor to accept this award."

For more information, please contact Vonita Bowers, USEF Director Endurance and Reining Activities at [email protected].