The organisers of the Mongol Derby have announced the Mongolian Ministry of Agriculture and four star FEI accredited endurance vet Jenny Weston are returning to the team of equine specialists for the second edition of the 1000km multi horse race across wild Mongolian steppe in August.
Maggie Pattinson, Chef d'Equipe of the British Home International Endurance Team since 2007 and endurance expert extraordinnaire is an exciting new addition. She will be leading the pre-race training sessions with the riders in Mongolia.
Applications are open now on the Mongol Derby website for all adventurists with sufficient riding experience. Riders who have already applied from round the world are being carefully assessed and new applications are welcome until the end of January.
Director of the Mongolian Ministry of Agriculture's Vetinerary Unit, Mr. D. Orgil*, said:
“First of all I would like to note that the long distance horse race tour based on horse stations [in 2009] was a huge success ... a brand-new sport tourism variety. Our Agency believes that it is important to develop this horse station based race-tour further by organizing it annually … [it] has a great potential to develop in our country.”
Mr Orgil was full of praise for the first Derby in a letter to the organisers which has been published on their website and the Ministry will be a key partner of the 2010 race.
The Mongol Derby is a joint venture led by British company The Adventurists with Mongolia based Tengri Group. More information can be found on the official website.
*Dr D. Orgil is also the Mongolian representative of the OIE and Mongolia's Chief Equine Veterinarian.