DressageDaily: Lauren Walfish Honored Equestrian of the Year at Florida Dressage Classic

Wednesday February 19, 2003

Lauren Walfish Honored Equestrian of the Year at Florida Dressage Classic

Lauren Walfish and mary Ann Grant The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Equestrian of the Year
competition concluded on Sunday, February 16th at the Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Equestrian Club in Wellington.

The winner of the event, 16-year old dressage rider Lauren Walfish took home the title of Equestrian of the Year beating out 19 other Equestrian of the Year participants. Lauren raised over $40,000 and was inspired throughout the competition by her grandfather, Simon, who is a lymphoma survivor. The runner-up in the event was Alison Firestone, a member of the US jumping team, who raised over $30,000! The event has been one of the most successful first-time events ever for the Society, raising almost $100,000.

For the last 6 months these participants have been competing against each other to see who can raise the most amount of money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Participants held training clinics, launched letter-writing campaigns and threw parties all in search of support from family, friends and business associates to help them compete for the sought after title of...Equestrian of the Year.

As the winner of the competition, Lauren will receive the grand prize of a
year's supply of Legend*, donated by Bayer Company while Alison will receive a fine oil portrait of one's horse by renowned artist Mingshi Huang. Both will also receive gift certificates to EuroAmerican Saddlery. As The
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's 2003 Equestrian of the Year, Lauren will have her photo on the annual poster to be displayed nation-wide.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a national voluntary health agency
dedicated to curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and improving the quality of life of patients and their families.

For more information or to find out how you can become involved in next
year's Equestrian of the Year event, please contact The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at 561-775-9954 or check out our website at www.tlls.org/pbeq