Ca.News.yahoo.com - Full Article
Annabel Grossman
Fri, August 22, 2025
When riding across the Mongolian steppe, one mistake can mean game over. This mistake can be anything, from losing a piece of kit to your horse stumbling in a marmot hole while navigating the vast stretches of open landscape.
The wilds of Mongolia are beautiful but unforgiving, as 45 riders discovered earlier this month when they competed in the “world’s toughest horse race”.
The Mongol Derby is not for the faint-hearted, with riders crossing 1,000km (620 miles) of rugged terrain on semi-wild horses, relying on their survival skills, horsemanship and pure grit to reach the finish line.
Out here on the steppe (the wide open plains that characterise this land), the competitors live among local herders, often staying in ger, traditional Mongolian tents, with families. The riders change their mounts every 20 miles at morin urtuu (horse stations) and must deliver the animals in good health at every stage.
Throughout the race (this year, competitors took between eight and 10 days to complete the course), riders found themselves cantering through wide-open valleys, navigating mountain passes, crossing rushing rivers, and traversing rolling dunes.
Speaking to The Independent two days into the race, competitor Anna Boden described the toll this takes on the body and the level of endurance needed.
“Physically, it’s significantly harder than anything I’ve ever done before,” she said. “You’re riding 12-hour days, and because you have a fresh horse each leg, you can ride quite fast – that is really tough on your body...”
Read more here:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/win-world-toughest-horse-race-103011641.html
Annabel Grossman
Fri, August 22, 2025
When riding across the Mongolian steppe, one mistake can mean game over. This mistake can be anything, from losing a piece of kit to your horse stumbling in a marmot hole while navigating the vast stretches of open landscape.
The wilds of Mongolia are beautiful but unforgiving, as 45 riders discovered earlier this month when they competed in the “world’s toughest horse race”.
The Mongol Derby is not for the faint-hearted, with riders crossing 1,000km (620 miles) of rugged terrain on semi-wild horses, relying on their survival skills, horsemanship and pure grit to reach the finish line.
Out here on the steppe (the wide open plains that characterise this land), the competitors live among local herders, often staying in ger, traditional Mongolian tents, with families. The riders change their mounts every 20 miles at morin urtuu (horse stations) and must deliver the animals in good health at every stage.
Throughout the race (this year, competitors took between eight and 10 days to complete the course), riders found themselves cantering through wide-open valleys, navigating mountain passes, crossing rushing rivers, and traversing rolling dunes.
Speaking to The Independent two days into the race, competitor Anna Boden described the toll this takes on the body and the level of endurance needed.
“Physically, it’s significantly harder than anything I’ve ever done before,” she said. “You’re riding 12-hour days, and because you have a fresh horse each leg, you can ride quite fast – that is really tough on your body...”
Read more here:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/win-world-toughest-horse-race-103011641.html
