These tales of adventure come direct from the steppe. It took us 2 days to get back to give you this and we will send updates and photos as quickly as we can. Just bear with us while we eek the news from the hills.
After 2 days of pre-race training in the Mongolian Steppe, and a Start Line Celebration comprising some of the best entertainment that Mongolia has to offer, the 26 selected riders for the Mongol Derby 2009 saddled up. As they lined up along the Start Line on Saturday morning 22nd August 2009, they looked out at a vastness of empty Steppe, a scene of wilderness that will accompany them for the duration of the 1000km race. At the starting signal they were away, dust trailing behind them as they disappeared across the horizon with their trusty steeds. Richard Dunwoody joined the riders for the first 2 legs of the race, dropping out to return to the UK for urgent business at the 3rd leg.
Where their equine partners in the race are able to stop after only one leg of 20-40km, the riders cannot. Their task is to push on, changing their horse at each Urtuu (Horse Station Stop) and battling across every leg of the race. David Murray, whose training regime consisting of 10km of riding followed by 10km of running each day in the run up to the event, was one of the strictest, said upon reaching the end of the 5th leg that though he knew this was the longest and toughest horse race in the world, the end of only the 2nd day was already taking its toll on his mental and physical state.
Indeed, the first 2 days of racing has seen the riders face some tough situations. 2 riders, Martin Asplund of Sweden and Bartolome Mestres Hernandez of Spain, dropped out of the race on the 2nd day of the Derby due to falls. Both have been checked by the medical team and both are fine. Bartolome will return to Spain, while Martin has chosen to head to the finish line, and await his fellow riders there. Another, Carina Oliver, stayed in after recovering from a fall on the first day.
Stopping between 8pm and 6am due to restrictions on riding during the hours of darkness, the riders stay in light weight 1 man tents or on the floor of Gers belonging to the Mongolian herders in charge of each Urtuu. 3 days of sleeping and riding in close proximity across some of the harshest natural environment in the world, is awakening some of the Mongol Derby pioneers to exactly how challenging the next 11 days of the adventure race are going to be.
Despite the falls, tensions, pains and challenges they are facing, the remaining riders are pushing on admirably. 4 riders are ahead of the race, with Charles van Wyck leading, followed closely by Mathilda Branson, Galbadrakh and Sabrina Verjee. Ahead since the start, they have by the 3rd day only, completed the 6h leg of the race and are continuing onto the 7th at a good pace. Despite their speed, all 4 reached the end of each leg with healthy horses, who have passed all checks implemented by the Mongol Derby veterinarians stationed at each Urtuu.
Keep an eye out for more news to come over the next few days as our pioneering riders, increasingly tired and no doubt with some extra aches and pains, face the next few legs of their most extraordinary equine adventure.