Posts Tagged ‘Mongol Derby’

I’m finished…

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Well I finally finished, and will be taking my place in the Guinness Book of Records for taking part in the world’s longest horse race. This was confirmed yesterday.

I’ve been finished for two days and am now chilling out at the finish line. A South African guy called Charles won the race and he finished 4 days ahead of me. The rest came in today, so everyone finished which is great. I ended up middle field as I had some really good horses for the last few legs of the race. Although I did manage to get stuck in a bog and my horse started to sink which was a little scary.

But its a great atmosphere at the finish line. Everyone’s reflecting on what we have achieved, although we are all very tired. You really don’t realise how tired you are until you’ve stopped.

We’re having a big party tonight now that everyone has finished with a prize giving and then I’m going back to the capital tomorrow.

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Lost My Horse

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Well if its at all possible… I managed to loose my horse whilst competing in the world’s longest horse race!

I got caught short of reaching the next checkpoint as it started getting dark. I set up camp for the night in the middle of the Mongolian mountains about 16 kms from the next checkpoint and tied my horse to a rock. My fellow competitor, Sasha, hobbled her horse… but these Mongolian horses scare easily and before we went to sleep that night the horses ran off at about midnight.

There was nothing we could do as it was dark and we couldn’t chase them. The next morning we called the organisers and it took them 5 hours to come and try and find us in the mountains. We had well and truly kissed goodbye to our lead at this stage.

Whilst waiting for the organisers to find us we went looking for our horses, and we did manage to find them… but do you think we could catch them? In the end it took 4 Mongolian men to capture our horses and it was midday. At this stage, we had also been without water for 14 hours which was getting a little worrying, especially as it is so hot during the day.

Due to the delay, its very difficult to catch up and everyone is about a checkpoint in front of us. Also the time limits on when you can ride is making it virtually impossible to get back into the running, as we can only ride from 5am to 8.30pm every day.

Yesterday was epic though, I rode 100km on my own covering 3 sections in the pouring rain. I was soaked to the bone and it was very lonely at times. I came across a group of wild horses and a couple of them came towards me and I realised the enormity of what I was doing, being out in the middle of the mountains completely on my own… it made me appreciate having a companion and today I was back riding with Sasha. We’ve riden another 80km today.

I think its still going to take another 5 or 6 days to complete the race. I’ve also had to ditch loads of equipment, including my tent, so I’m really hoping I don’t get caught short of the checkpoint again.

I managed to get a shower at one of the checkpoints yesterday, my first in 5 days and that was fantastic. I’m also really not fairing too badly with chaffing. Some competitors have got horrific chaffing on the backs of their legs, some even with open wounds.

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In the Mongolian mountains… somewhere?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Well, I’m about 16km from the next checkpoint and had to stop as it started getting dark. I’m riding as part of a team with a girl called Sasha from South Africa, and we’re squashed into a small one man tent in the middle of the mountains in Mongolia. We’ve got our horses tied up to a rock and are really hoping they are still going to be there in the morning.

The horses scare really easily and so far just about all of us have fallen off. Our tent is flapping in the wind, and I hope it doesn’t scare them into running off tonight… otherwise we’ve got a long walk to the next checkpoint tomorrow morning and we’ve lost £500 each.

We’ve covered about 50km today, but were delayed this morning as a Spanish rider fell off his horse and had to be airlifted back to base due to spinal injuries. But we’ve been doing about 13.5 hours of riding each day; covering 80km on Sunday and 90km on Saturday. But its dawned on me that its going to take a bit longer than I originally thought, maybe 10-12 days. The distances are really long and you are really doing well if you manage to cover off 2 sections of 40km per day.

We’re doing really well though and are currently lying in 4th and 5th place in the race respectively. We took a bit of a chance and left the last checkpoint at 4.30pm this afternoon, thinking that we would make it to the camp at the next checkpoint, but the distances are very long and it got dark so we’ve just had to pitch up in the middle of no where.

But its really luck of the draw with the horses, or should I say donkeys in some cases! I’m on my 7th horse now in the race. At each checkpoint the horses are all lined up to choose from, if you ask the Mongolians which is the best horse, they are pointing out absolute donkeys.

I’m extremely sore, tired and have only eaten an energy bar today, we’ve hardly got any water between us. And need to be up at 5am tomorrow to reach the next checkpoint. Fingers crossed that my horse will be there in the morning.

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Mutton, Mutton and more Mutton

Friday, August 21st, 2009

I arrived in Ulaanbaatar two days ago. Unfortunately the airline lost my tent so my first drama was finding somewhere to buy a new place to sleep!

I met my fellow competitors that evening for a meal, and it was really good to get to know everyone. Yesterday we had a 6 hour drive to Khairorun to complete which ended up taking 10.5 hours, (a good chance to get to know each other!). The Mongolian countryside is beautiful; amazing, huge, rolling steppe with blue sky overhead, and the people are lovely. The food is mainly mutton based (and as I don’t usually eat lamb it has been mainly energy bars for me). The toilets are very very basic so everyone is avoiding them until they are really necessary!

We had a party last night before spending our first night in our Gurs and woke up this morning for a 30km ride. The horses are feisty and need a firm hand but are very accommodating, dropping to their knees (like camels) to let us mount them. I nicknamed my horse today ‘Sydney’. He was only a small 13 hands but even still was hard to handle.You have to keep a firm grip on the reins but with my huge sheepskin rug I am quite comfy.

A couple of the rules have changed since my arrival here. Firstly, we have an imposed curfew during the race meaning that everyone has to stop riding at 2030 and is not allowed to set off until 0500 the following day. Secondly, every 40km the horses need to be checked by vets to establish that thier heart rates are sound and they have not been pushed too hard. If the horses heart rate exceed the guidelines then a penalty rest time of either 6 or 12 hours can be imposed. Two penalties mean elimination from the competition. As a result of this, the vibe of the competition has completely changed. I was planning on a slow(ish) race though, so my game plan has not altered as much as others. I am currently riding in a group of five in a real team effort.

Tonight we have another meal (mutton again) and then have another 30km ride in the morning before starting the race proper on Saturday.

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