If you used one word to describe Jan Worthington it would be “tough”. At age 70, she certainly has the riding experience and credentials to take her to the WEG. On her farm near Scales Mound, Illinois, she and her partner raise and train endurance prospects.

With over 27,000 American Endurance Ride Conference miles (the circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,902 miles) gathered since 1972, Worthington has long been a member of the USA endurance effort. In 1988, she was a member of the Gold Medal World Endurance Championship team and has competed in numerous North American Endurance Championships including the 1996 WEC at Riley, Kansas, where she also leased horses to the Swiss, Bronze medal team. She rode again for the US at the WEC in Compiegne, France in 2000, and finished the WEC in Malaysia in 2008. In Malaysia, a nearby lightning strike made her mount jump and roll, causing them both slight trauma. The gutsy Worthington remounted and finished the ride after repairs to her uniform and helmet. It was a huge disappointment when the duo was eliminated after 100 miles, as her mount was slightly off.

Her WEG competition mount is the same race-bred Golden Lightning (Wiking x Wisza) from the Malaysian incident. In 2009, Lightning and Worthington placed first at the Fort Howes 75-mile ride in just over seven hours and received BC. His 2010 third place finish in a ride time of 9:42 at the Texas Bluebonnet Classic showed he was still in race form. The ten-year-old Lightning has excellent recoveries and competes with the same gutsy intensity as his rider.