Which hurts more: switching horses 28 times with 3 hard “bails”… or your GPS dying at mile 537? This isn’t the Kentucky Derby. This is the Mongol Derby.
Go Ali! Daniel Woodward
Tomorrow, 40+ riders from around the globe will mount up for the Mongol Derby—a 1,000-kilometer stampede across the wild Mongolian steppe, known as the world’s longest and toughest horse race. Inspired by Genghis Khan’s 13th-century postal route, the Derby is not for the faint of seat or spirit.
For 10 days, competitors will face:
• 14-hour saddle days, on “semi”-wild Mongolian horses that change every 35 km.
• No support crew, just a GPS, raw grit, and a satellite SOS button.
• Open plains, flooded rivers, howling wind, heatstroke, hailstorms, and the occasional wild yak.
• And perhaps worst of all: a vet penalty if your horse arrives overheated—because this race is just as much about honoring the horse as it is about outlasting your rivals.
Every mile is earned. Every meal is uncertain. Every night, you might be camping alone—or sharing fermented mare’s milk with a nomadic herder family.
This isn’t the Kentucky Derby.
This is the Mongol Derby.
And tomorrow, the starting gun cracks.
Video overview here: https://lnkd.in/eK7V-gHJ
Live Tracking here: https://lnkd.in/eBiCupu5
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May the best seatbones win.
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Deep into the race. You go girl! Regardless of what the horse wants to say about it 🙂 He or she is being well taken care of. Anything else is just an attitude. A wise leader does not cater to attitude, only to reality.
