Local racer hopes to turn small donations into giant Steppe

Tucson.com - Full Article

July 18, 2015 7:58 pm • By Jon Gold

So it turns out the trek of the lifetime takes a little planning.

Later this month, Tucson horsewoman Michelle Tanaka, 25, will take on the Mongol Derby, a brutal journey that traces the mail route of Genghis Khan. The longest of its kind in the world, the race will take her more than 600 miles over the Mongolian Steppe.

The journey to get there might be even harder.

Early on, Tanaka — new to a job at Summit Hut in Tucson and a little too timid to boast about her ambition — left people in the dark about her plans. She puts it simply: “I didn’t want to be that kid.”

But money needed to be raised, particularly for the Canyon del Oro High grad’s two causes — the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Cool Earth, a UK-based organization for rain forest protection — at least enough to meet the fundraising minimum of $1,560...

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