Meet the Derbyists, could you be next?

By Dan Wedgwood
  

Meet the Derbyists. Could you be next?

The Mongol Derby attracts a diverse group of people, united by physical resilience, a taste for the great unknown, and a need for 16 hands between their thighs. As the great day dawns when our sixteen brave riders thunder off into the steppe, blinking in the sunlight and burping up the last of their dried curds from the feasting the night before, we spoke to some of the contestants in the 2010 Mongol Derby, to sample their preparations, predictions and personalities.

It turns out there's quite a spectrum of responses to the question “how do you prepare for the world's longest and toughest multi-horse race?” It remains to be seen which approach will win out in the wilds of the steppe.

Among the star athletes and full time riders are plenty of folks for whom time in the saddle is a precious commodity at the beginning or end of a long day in the office. Anna Bradbury has juggled her Derby preparations with a demanding job as a diplomat with the Foreign Office, Saskia van Heeren runs an art gallery in her native Stellenbosch, Anya Campbell is a professional photographer, whilst Richard Dyer works full time managing construction projects.

At the other end of the spectrum are professional or semi-professional riders such as farrier and endurance trainer Justin Nelzen (who also happens to be an ex-US Marine, multiple marathon runner and triathlete, and general hardnut), whose six month preparation schedule might make an Olympian nervous. This is a theory we can test, given that we have a dual Olympian on the start list as well, Madonna Harris, riding for New Zealand. Read more about their in-depth preparations here.

All of the riders are accomplished horsemen and women, and with the contingencies of the Mongolian environment, the wild and wily horses, and their appetite for innovative dairy foods, it really is a wide open contest.










Report filed by Miss Kate Willings, Head of Equitation and Tack Cleaning, League of Adventurists, from Bristol, UK.

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 I’ve been fortunate to have some epic adventures in my life and I have a feeling this will be one of the best. 

 

Madonna, 2010 Rider

I'm not sure what compelled me to sign up for the Mongol Derby 2010. In fact I'm not truly sure how I even discovered it, because if i recall correctly I was searching the internet for a relaxing summer holiday involving white sand, turquoise seas and copious amounts of cocktails. However in true Rhiannon fashion nothing ever seems to end up how I planned it...

Rhiannon, 2010 Rider

It’s a butt-searing 620 miles in the saddle, riding semi-wild Mongolian ponies across the steppe, miles from civilisation, with no back-up crew and only 5 kg of kit. I’m lucky to be riding at all, never mind taking on a challenge of such epic proportions. Last year I suffered a pretty horrific riding accident. It took five hours of emergency surgery to re-attach the left side of my face to my skull, and several months to return to relatively normal function after bad nerve damage.

Susi, 2010 Rider and clearly quite a hard nut...