Richard Dunwoody photoAt 9.51am local time, Will Comiskey from Australia, Marcia Hefker-Miles from New Mexico and Heidi Telstad crossed the line, arms together, to take a triple dead heat in the 2016 Mongol Derby, the world’s longest and toughest horse race.
They gave thanks to the horses, herders and people of Mongolia for an incredible experience and said they wanted to share the experience of winning as a team just as they had shared the experience of the trail.
Will Comiskey, 28, ‘Dingo’, a cattle rancher from Longreach , said:
“There were slow ones, there were wild ones, but ****, we had fun!!
Marcia Hefker-Miles, 45, from New Mexico, said her most memorable memory was:
“Riding through a high mountain pass, past a boy and a girl both herding goats; making eye contact with them and waving. I saw myself in that little girl...”
Heidi Telstad, 43, a lawyer from British Colombia, said hers was:
“Camping one night with a poor family; they gave everything they had to spare to me and my horse and treated me as one of their own.”
Next to finish in the Mongol Derby were Tatiana Mountbatten and Venetia Philipps, from the UK and Courtney Kizer from Texas. Other riders will finish shortly…
You can still follow the race via twitter https://twitter.com/mongolderbylive or if you use the + arrows on the tracker you can home in and hover your mouse over the blue dots so you can see exactly where the riders all are and how far they have travelled http://www.theadventurists.com/mongol-derby-live-dashboard/
