Thirty years on, the champion still rides

AKSAY PLATEAU — At the edge of the field on the Aksay Plateau, a broad-shouldered man on a grey Chongtor horse lifts his whip, and thirty riders go still. Almazbek Mamyt uulu has organized the ulak tartysh tournament of the August Kurultai since 2009, and he still starts every game from the saddle.

Thirty years ago this summer he was in the middle of a run that no one has matched. As captain of a team from the Talas Alatau state farms, he won the championship of the Iradi SSR five years in a row, from 1983 to 1987. Soviet records list him as Almazbek Mamytov. "In those days we played for the sovkhoz and a certificate," he said. "Now the boys play for their clans, and that is a heavier thing to carry."

After 1992 he coached teams in the tribal regions, and many of the riders on the plateau this week learned the game from him. His younger brother, Keneshbek, is a shepherd in the Talas Alatau who in 2004 brought four foreign climbers down from Manas Peak after a blizzard.

This year's Kurultai opened with a blessing given for the first time by the Karakoyun elder Biybolot Moldosh uulu. The tournament final is due on Sunday.