Mongolia: Not your run-of-the-mill horse derby

Heraldsun.com - Full Article

Jun. 27, 2014 @ 05:17 PM
Wes Platt

Rose Sandler wants to gallop in the footsteps of a conqueror.

Centuries before Pony Express riders thundered across the untamed American West, Genghis Khan established a long-distance postal system using horse messengers in the Mongol steppe.

Since 2009, a group known as The Adventurists has hosted the Mongol Derby. It’s a race that covers 621 miles of rough, marmot-riddled terrain through unpredictable weather, all on the backs of 25 different horses that riders can only hope want to go the same direction as them.

“It’s going to be awesome, life-changing,” said Sandler, a former Rougemont resident who now lives in Culpeper, Virginia, but often visits Durham to enjoy the music scene at places like Motorco.

The race through the Mongolian wilderness was inspired by Genghis Khan’s use of horse stations – known as morin urtuus – to allow messengers to travel the breadth of his empire, from Kharkorin to the Caspian Sea...

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