And so it begins. Our riders are now safely installed in the 2024 Mongol Derby start camp, having completed Day 1 of Pre-Race Training and cleared the first hurdle to Mongol Derby success: the very lengthy bus ride out from Ulaanbaatar to the steppe. They now have two more days of Derby bootcamp to test all their gear, finalise their snack selections and get familiar with some of their mighty Mongolian steeds before the gun goes off on the 2024 Mongol Derby and they thunder across the start line. There’s no going back now.

The Derby itself starts on Wednesday, and riders have 10 days to complete the approximately 1,000km course. Until the final day of racing action, we’ll be bringing you live daily reports covering each day’s thrills and spills. For now, read on for a rundown of what the riders and the crew have been up to today, and some background info on the course you’ll shortly be watching them conquer live on our tracking map.

While most of our crew on the ground had already made the trek out to our top secret start camp location yesterday to get things up and running perfectly for the riders, there was no skipping Derby Crew School. Our enormous team of event managers, horse welfare managers, drivers, vets, medics, photographers, videographers and translators have all been through their own training sessions, making sure we’re all ready to support our Derby cohort have the ride of a lifetime. The vets especially have wasted no time getting straight down to work, and were busy scoping out practice vet check locations for the riders’ preliminary bootcamp training rides before simultaneously testing out their rain gear and the hospitality team’s bar supplies. Multi-tasking at its finest.

Meanwhile, the riders were gathering for the first time in central Ulaanbaatar for their introductions to each other and some of the crew. Mugshots were taken, confusing navigational devices were distributed, and riders were briefed on the Race Rules, in place to prioritise horse welfare throughout the Derby while also ensuring good sportsmanship. Then we got straight down to business: rider weigh in. Each rider must weigh 85kg or less, dressed to ride, to be allowed to take part in the Derby. Some of the taller gentlemen were looking decidedly pasty as they approached the scales, wearing all the kit they’re going to don on Wednesday to kick off their bid for Derby glory. Would the months of careful training, weighing and reweighing of ultralight kit and the occasional last minute juice diet have paid off?

Several audible sighs of relief later, and all 44 of this year’s crop of Derby jockeys had passed the weigh-in, with creatively decorated backpacks and lucky mascots all making the cut. Just in time for an enormous, carb heavy lunch on the way to start camp. And with that, final calls home to family and friends were made, and all the many bags of gear and their owners were packed onto the buses for the slog out to the steppe. A bumpy several hours later, and the riders emerged to a pleasant surprise: the last taste of luxury before we let them loose to fend for themselves for 10 days in the wilds, the camp team crew have really pulled it out the bag, as per usual. Luxury gers, 5 star views, hot showers, proper toilets and the customary hand-painted Mongolian bar: enjoy it while it lasts, folks. This is the best you’ll smell for a very, very long time.

They were greeted off the bus like the heroes they are, with the full crew turning out in force to witness every rider take a sip of the traditional Mongolian welcome tipple: airag, fermented mare’s milk. It’s an acquired and very bitter taste, but one you’ll have drunk enough of by the end of the Derby it will start to taste positively sweet. Once bags were stashed in their traditional Mongolian gers for the duration of start camp, some of our wonderful local Mongolian team led the ger etiquette briefing. During the Derby, riders can either sleep with our host families in specially designated gers at horse stations, or they can strike out on their own and elect to take their chances finding somewhere else to sleep on the steppe. This may be out under the stars, or you may ride up to another family’s door and beg for a ger over your head for the night. Anything goes, so long as your horse is safe and sound with access to grazing and water (rider comfort is a far less important concern). Mongolian hospitality is such that travellers are normally welcomed into the family home and fed like kings, but if it’s a rainy night and it turns out nobody’s home it’s a gamble to get ahead that may not pay off.

If you do manage to find a nice cosy ger for the night, there are a daunting number of rules to remember to avoid offending your hosts. For example, if you’re offered food, take it (at least a nibble). Never walk between the central supporting beams. Sleep with your feet towards the door. And never, ever step on the threshold of the door. It’s a lot to take in, we know: some expressions of extreme concentration were captured in the crows. Our team also delivered a crash course in the Mongolian language, for those moments when sign language for “I’ve lost my horse please help” really isn’t cutting it.

As the riders bed down for their first night out on the steppe, some have headed straight to the bar to get the party started, while the navigationally more diligent are already scratching their heads over the course map. Over the next couple of days they’ll lay the foundations for friendships that will last a lifetime, be trained on how to navigate the Derby and to manage the horses, before being let loose on a course steeped in history, natural beauty and culture. We couldn’t be more envious.

This year, the course starts within the Khogne Tarn National Park. Designated as a Natural Reserve in 1997 to protect the unique landscape and ecosystem in the area, the first few legs see the riders hurtling past Khogne Khan Mountain, which was one of the four sacred mountains worshipped during the rule of Bogd Khan in Mongolia between 1911 and 1919. Today, its former spiritual significance is still honoured by locals, who do not cut trees or remove stones from the mountain. The park is also home to a huge range of animal life ranging from antelope to wolves (who are luckily never particularly interested in riders camping out), and plant life growing across its river valleys and gentle rolling mountains.

This year’s course also passes through the Orkhon River Valley, once of Mongolia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It’s a huge area of grassland which is home to the now ruined site of Kharkhorum, a bustling hub for global trade, religion and culture in the 13th and 14th centuries. It was a favoured holiday spot for Mongolian kings, who would nip out to the city twice a year for grand feasts. Unique in its time for welcoming residents and visitors from every country and every religion, it’s fitting that our international, eclectic band of riders this year will also pass near to the site of the city, which was destroyed in the 15th century. Sitting at 1,540m above sea level in the eastern part of the Khangai mountain range, the average annual temperature is around 0°C. Let’s hope they all the field have packed a nice woolly jumper.

But it’s really the natural features of this year’s course which will wow our riders. They’ll pass by Ogii Lake, a welcome hydration station for thirsty mounts while also being home to around 150 species of waterfowl, including rare birds like the beaked goose and the spoonbill. A challenging landscape on a hot day, jockeys will also find themselves navigating around Eslen Tasarkhai, a sand dune measuring a dizzying 80km in length between two mountains. A central road cuts the dune in two, but will the riders be able to find it? Passing through yet another reserve later in the course, riders may find themselves jumping over mammoth bones and dodging dinosaur tracks in the Batkhaan Mountain Range, home to multiple rivers and forested slopes.

This is no guided pony trek. Our riders are completely responsible for navigating themselves across this incredible landscape between the horse stations that make up the Derby course, guided only by their GPSs and topographical maps. They will be riding 28 unknown Mongolian horses to get themselves there, many of whom roam wild for much of the year and are not used to being ridden by anybody except their owner. They’re feisty, they’re fun and they’re at least semi-feral. You need serious skill to tackle this challenge, and a larger than average dose of resilience and stickability (or at least a stubborn determination to get straight back on the horse).

We’re itching to watch them tackle it and see the Derby drama unfold. We’ll be back tomorrow, with a full report on their progress on Pre-Race Training Day 2.

Photo credits: Kathy Gabriel and Tulgaa Skizz