How I Survived the Mongol Derby: The World’s Longest, Toughest Horse Race

Horsenetwork.com - Full Article

by Liz Brown
august 2 2016

Riding 28 semi-wild horses through 620 miles of Mongolian wilderness is no pony trek

The young teen with a feathered mustache shuffled over to me, his eyes slightly down cast as he tried to shove the lead rope in my hands. Reflexively, I sighed and waved him off. I’d already ridden more than 60 miles today and it was only 3 p.m. My grasp on reality—and good manners—had vanished many kilometers before, left somewhere out on the wide open steppe.

Mongolia. August, 2015. The sun was an angry burning orb in an endless blue sky, no clouds in sight to offer even a wisp of respite from the heat. Sweat ran in small rivers down my back and chest, drenching my long sleeved shirt intended to protect my skin from the vicious UV rays. The only thought I had was seeking shade in the nearby ger, where I could sip water and try to settle the dizziness and nausea that had been plaguing me since the early morning.
As I made a move toward the tent for a second time, the kid tugged at my sleeve and I felt his calloused hand close on top of mine. He said something to me, insistently in Mongolian, and jerked his head toward the horse at the end of the rope. I eyed his animal, a 13hh stocky flea bitten grey with a forelock that hid his eyes. The gelding didn’t look like much, especially after I’d just made good time on a lovely lithe chestnut athlete that was a mini version of the Thoroughbreds back home, but the boy looked excited at the prospect of me riding his pony and all I wanted was five minutes of peace. I raised a shaky hand and pointed to my saddle that had been tossed in some goat turds and gave the boy the thumbs up. He grinned and got to tacking the horse that would carry me over the next 25 miles of inhospitable Mongolian wilderness...

Read more here:
http://horsenetwork.com/2016/08/survived-mongol-derby-worlds-longest-toughest-horse-race/

Great Britain: Alfie and Poppy making progress with challenge

Loughboroughecho.net - Full Article

August 5 2016
BY MEGAN COX

Seven-year-old Alfie Wilton and his pony, Poppy, are raising money for three charities: The National Autistic Society, the Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) and Cancer Research UK.

AN EAST LEAKE youngster, who has ADHD and autism, is making good progress to meet the challenge he has set himself to trot, gallop, and canter 100 miles for charity.

Seven-year-old Alfie Wilton and his pony, Poppy, are raising money for three charities: The National Autistic Society, the Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) and Cancer Research UK.

Alfie, a Brookside Primary School pupil, initially set himself the challenge of riding 100 miles and raising £300 but he has already surpassed that amount in donations.

The youngster rides Poppy as part of a number of local horse riding groups through the Sport Endurance organisation.

Last year Alfie won the East Midlands Junior Rider of the Year award at the Sport Endurance National Awards and rode a total of 47 miles with Poppy - which led to him setting his own challenge for 2016...

Read more here:
http://www.loughboroughecho.net/news/local-news/alfie-poppy-making-progress-challenge-11693300

Mongol Derby underway for Red Lodge's Hale, Manhattan's Griffis

Billingsgazette.com - Full Article

JEFF WELSCH jwelsch@billingsgazette.com
Aug 4, 2016

Now, they know the route.

After nearly a year of planning and a combination of fear and excitement, Kelly Hale of Red Lodge and Marie Griffis of Manhattan began a 1,008-kilometer horse race across the Mongolian steppe on Thursday.

Dubbed "The World's Toughest Horse Race", the Derby started about 200 kilometers southwest of the capital of Ulaanbataar. The 40 riders have 10 days to reach the finish line at Khovsgel Lake, in a national park almost due north of the start.

The route was kept secret until just before the start for security reasons.

"I’m just really excited about being immersed in their culture and not just being a tourist — actually relying on the nomads to help me out and to navigate through their country," Griffis told The Gazette in June...

Read more here:
http://billingsgazette.com/sports/mongol-derby-underway-for-red-lodge-s-hale-manhattan-s/article_83e84714-e548-5430-92b8-9ce236125f05.html

2016 Mongol Derby: Day 2

US rider Marcia Hefker-Miles repacks her backpack at Urtuu 5

Photo by Richard Dunwoody

Day 2 of the Mongol Derby 2016 is done and the leaderboard looks totally different.

The race saw its second retirement from UK rider and former professional jockey Kevin Darley, defeated on this occasion by bad knees.

At the front of the field, Venetia Philipps and Tatiana Mountbatten (Team Riding for Rangers) are camping out with fellow Brit Alexandra Hardham and Aussie Shannon Nott. With Alexandra and Tatiana carrying 2-hour penalties each, the 4 ladies will be faced with a choice at Urtuu 11; to wait together and risk losing their lead or separate and hope they can regroup later. Yesterday's front-runners William Comiskey and Heidi Telstad are still riding together but have slipped down the ranks, proving how quickly fortunes can change on the Steppe.

Across the rest of the field multiple riders are getting thrown off their horses. US rider Marie Griffis is choosing a series of outstanding horses from the line ups, and it's been paying off as she's made good progress up the ranks. Choosing live-wires has drawbacks and on the third roll of the day she sustained an injury. She finished the day at Urtuu 6 with a bit of a hobble, helped along by her current riding companions Rosie Bathurst and Alice Newling. With luck, the three of them might have a dryer nights sleep than last night. Attempting to camp in a goats pen, they were caught in a downpour before they were rescued by local herder family and treated to multiple samples of the local vodka to warm up. Tonight, they'll be sleeping with seventeen other riders at Urtuu 6. Space may be more of a issue than the weather this evening.

Sebastian Bridger also met the ground more often than planned today. He was bucked off three times between Urtuu 4 and 5 before accepting a carry forward from the race team which comes with a 3 hour race penalty. Of the five Household Cavalry team, only James Harbord and Urbain Tego Tagne are currently riding without penalties. They too will have to decide at Urtuu 11 whether to sit out the penalties as a team or to split into two factions forming a breakaway penalty-free group.

The riders are being tracked live. Find out all the ways you can follow the race on the Live Tracking Dashboard.

We'll be back on Saturday 6th August with the best photo and updates from Day 3. Until then, satisfy your Derby appetite with our Rolling News. A single post with all the Derby pictures and updates since the race began or read the explanation of the Derby penalty system.

2016 Mongol Derby: Day 1

Richard Dunwoody photo
Theadventurists.com

The Mongol Derby is live. Forty-one riders made it to the start-camp and the Race has whittled their number to forty.

At the close of Day 1, the early race leaders are Heidi Telstad and William Comiskey. She's a lawyer from Canada, he's a cattle herder from Queensland. They are perhaps not the most obvious team in the group. It remains to be seen if they will still be riding together when dawn breaks.

August 4, 2016 Mongol Derby
At the close of day 1, we've got a record number of campers. Of the six riders who came first into Urtuu 3, five went out again to try in the hopes of getting a head start in the morning. Only Hanna Backstom decided to stay put: warm dry and catered for. She will likely get a better nights rest, but she'll be competing with the stragglers who joined her at U3 before the course closed. Meanwhile, the five riders who chose the open steppe will be camping in the rain. Will the risk pay off and, perhaps more pressingly, will their horses still be there? The morning saw the first retiree from Loden Burton.

From the front then, here's the Day 1 Leaderboard:
Between U3 and U4

Heidi Telstad
Will Comiskey
Venetia Philipps
Tatiana Mountbatten
Tim Finley

At or Near U3

Alexandra Hardham
Shannon Nott
Hanna Bäckström
Courtney Kizer
Kelly Hale
Fred Thorne
Anna De Jonquieres
Marcia Hefker-Miles
Adam Casey
Francisco Schnaas
Madison Smith

Between U2 and U3

Krista Donnelly
Peter Molony
David Redvers
Marie Griffis
Alice Newling
Rosie Bathurst
Charles Broughton
Sara Pickthall
Anthony Strange
Carin Ostergren
Gareth Jones
Camille Champagne Bargenquas
Pierce Buckingham
Kevin Darley
Josefine Schopman
Thomas Alden
Cochetta Crowley
Sebastian Bridger
Urbain Tego Tagne
James Harbord
Babs Ketelaar

Between U1 and U2

Mike Becker
Chase Becker
Julia Stewart

Retired

Loden Burton



Get the full Day 1 Leaderboard here.

All the riders are being tracked live. For all the ways to follow them, head to the Live Tracking Dashboard.

Austinite heads to Mongolia to compete in world’s longest horse race

MyStatesman.com - Full Article

By Nancy Flores - American-Statesman Staff
Aug. 3, 2016

Austinite Courtney Kizer will race in the Mongol Derby, one of world’s toughest horse races, starting Aug. 4.

For Austin native Courtney Kizer, there’s nothing better than getting out into the middle of nowhere, whether that’s backcountry skiing in Colorado or driving across the nation. It’s what nourishes her spirit and feeds her adventurous soul.

“It’s such a state of calm once you’re away from all of the things that we build our lives around these days,” says Kizer, who runs her own architecture firm.

But starting Aug. 4, she’ll embark on an adventure like no other. Kizer, 29, heads to Mongolia to compete in what the “Guinness Book of World Records” named the longest horse race in the world.

For more than 600 miles, Mongol Derby competitors ride semi-wild horses through the unfamiliar Mongolian wilderness. According to the Adventurists, the U.K.-based company that organizes the race, the “exact course changes each year and is kept secret until shortly before the launch...”

Read more here:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/lifestyles/fitness/austinite-heads-to-mongolia-to-compete-in-worlds-l/nr8Zb/

2016 Mongol Derby Underway

August 4 2016

The 8th Mongol Derby began today, 10 days to race 1000 kilometers across the steppes of Mongolia.

41 riders are on course. USA riders are: Pierce Buckingham, Loden Burton, Adam Casey, Michael Connerth, Tim Finley, Marie Griffis, Dr Kelly Hale, Marcia Hefner-Miles, Courtney Kizer, Madison Smith, and Julie Stewart.

You can follow the Derby on the Live Tracking Map here:
http://www.theadventurists.com/mongol-derby-live-dashboard/

www.endurance.net will post news and updates and twitter feeds:
http://www.endurance.net/international/Mongolia/2016MongolDerby/