Just like that, bootcamp is over. Two full days on the steppe at the Mongol Derby start camp, and we’re satisfied our 2024 cohort of Derby hopefuls are prepped and ready for blast off. Or, at least, as prepped and ready as you can ever actually be for whatever particular curveballs the Derby decides to chuck your way. The day dawned bright and pleasant, just like yesterday. Riders would be forgiven for assuming it would be another (largely) smooth day of briefings and test rides on nice calm horses. But they hadn’t yet reckoned with the miniature fluffy ball of terror that is the Mongolian marmot.

For some, the first obstacle of the day was shaking off the sore head and bleary eyes from their introductory night to the steppe and the start camp bar supplies. Last night following dinner, riders were treated to a mini naadam, the Mongolian national festival. Normally this involves Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery, but accompanying events also include contortionists, musical performances and throat singing (if you haven’t heard it, have a Google). Our local performers put on quite the show to really embed the riders in the phenomenally rich cultural heritage they are witnessing out on the steppe. Yes, they’re here to race horses, but these horses are only here as part of Mongolia’s fascinating history and traditions, many of which are kept alive to this day. Apparently this extends to watching everything from the back of your horse, if you’re a true Mongolian herder like our start camp team.

The party continued once the opening ceremony wrapped up, which was a source of regret for a few riders this morning feeling slightly queasy stumbling into the first of today’s briefings: a trot through the course. Although the riders of the Derby are entirely responsible for navigating their way between horse stations as they progress along the route, we do give them a pretty detailed briefing on what they can expect along each leg before we send them out there to fend for themselves. Any real dangers to horse and rider (but mostly the horse) are set out and flagged, and any compulsory waypoints which riders must hit as part of their route planning are explained and pointed out to them. We also mark things like water sources for horses, where the course is looking a bit too dry for our liking. All of these important parts, as well as the horse stations, are marked on both their paper maps and GPSs. Some choose to ride only with the GPS, and others prefer to plan everything out on paper. Horse Manager Ben and Deputy Race Director Thor led the briefing, which set riders furiously scribbling notes on their many sheets of maps, or, in the case of father and daughter duo Terje and Elli Gilje (TGI, EGI), cracking up over each other’s navigational suggestions. Let’s see if they’re still laughing by the third wrong turn on Day 7.

With our riders now fully oriented and with watertight navigational plans in place, it was time to put the fear of god into them. Step forward Andy, our head medic from our cracking expedition and adventure medicine team at Intrepid Medics. Andy has seen it all before: he and the team have worked years of Derbies between them, both here in Mongolia and on our sister race the Gaucho Derby in Patagonia. They’ve dealt with everything from bruised bums to broken bones, and are always nearby to ensure our riders can’t do too much damage to themselves. They also often quickly become riders’ favourite crew members on their steppe, both because they’re lovely people and because they carry a large supply of heavy duty painkillers. Andy briefed the riders on how to look after themselves and each other out in the wilderness, in the face of everything the steppe can throw at you. The main rules: don’t get too hot, don’t get too cold, don’t get too wet, and for gods sake drink your electrolytes. It was all starting to feel a bit serious, perhaps partly due to Andy’s unnerving choice of presentation illustrations.

Released from the ger with a new found respect for heat stroke, the riders duly rehydrated and fuelled up over lunch before heading back down to the horse lines for their final test ride before the real deal. Today, they had two checkpoints to navigate between before heading back to start camp, where they would once again go through a dummy vet check. Riders were confident: all of these horses had been ridden yesterday, and they had all been quiet as a lamb. They’d have been forgiven for thinking that the only hazard they had to worry about were their own saddle bags, now stuffed full and stubbornly refusing to stay nice and balanced on their horses’ backs. Hint hint: the more straps, the better.

Everything started off splendidly. Missy Morgan (MMO) and Sophie de Rouet (SDR) seemed to have got roughly the measure of their GPSs, and trotted out confidently in the sun to Checkpoint 1. Marieke Schnebeli (MSC) seems to think she’s won already with her pull off the horse line today, while Alyssa Cederstrand (ACE) was careful to make sure her mount took on plenty of fuel and Hannah Morgan’s (HMO) horse was kicking back to relax in style on return from his jaunt. Josh Dales (JDA), MSC and Monica Erickson (MER) found themselves being closely supervised by a pair of young local herders today, apparently keen to make sure the riders were capable of handling their precious horses. There may also have been just a little bit of excited showing off going on.

Grey Godsal (GGO) told us this evening post-ride he’s still not quite yet used to the small ponies: perhaps it’s something to do with having to work a little harder than usual to keep his feet out the rivers, a technique which Gideon Kotkowski (GKO) has already nailed.

Josh Edwards (JED) hadn’t quite yet mastered this trick, narrowly avoiding a dunking having entered the river at a bold angle. Putting his cowboy skills to good use, he rode it out like a pro. Unfortunately, however, he’d used up all his luck on one near miss. Trotting along to the next checkpoint, disaster struck: his mount stuck his two front hooves straight into a marmot hole in the ground, and both horse and rider went flying head over hocks. Fortunately, no harm was done, and JED mounted back up and continued on unscathed. He’s learnt his lesson: “You gotta ride with your head on a swivel”. However, he hasn’t yet worked out how to adjust his strategy: pay attention, or just ride faster? Time will tell.

And the marmot mayhem was just beginning. No sooner had JED remounted than the crew heard of another incident: Margaret Holloway (MHA) had also had a run in with a burrow, and had come flying off her horse too. Luckily for MHA, her loyal companion Christine Wilson (CWI) was on hand to recapture the loose steed (who luckily didn’t seem in much of a hurry to head off anyway) with the help of a young local herder. Both horse and rider were unruffled, and continued on with zero fuss. Tough cookies. Take note, riders: if you take a tumble, it’s very much worth having a pal there to save your bacon.

Very sadly for Andre de Souza (ADS), he was unlucky number three today in the war against the marmots: he had the exact same run in with a hidden hole combined with some saddle slippage, and unfortunately took a nasty tumble. His horse galloped back to start camp and has been safely recovered, but our medics suspect ADS may have a broken collar bone. He was whisked away off the steppe to head back to the hospital with medic Sarah, and is comfortable and stable. We’re very sad to lose him, and wish him a speedy and smooth recovery. We hope to see him back out to tackle the steppe in the future.

ADS’s horse wasn’t the only runaway today: Peter Dargie (PDA) found himself temporarily on foot when his horse bolted off without him. He was later tracked down roaming the steppe and returned to the horse line to spend the night in the naughty corner. PDA did get enough of a ride in before he was rudely abandoned to practice some navigation with fellow Mongol Derby Academy 2023 graduates Ying Jiang (YJI) and Almira Zakiyeva (AZA), although they did seem to be more in the ‘route discussing’ rather than the ‘route riding’ stage when we snapped a pic of them.

A handful of riders today developed a healthy respect for another life-threatening furry animal lurking out there on the steppe: the notorious ger dogs. Practically every nomadic herding family in Mongolia has at least one ger dog. These are often great big shaggy black things with barks that make you quake in your stirrups and teeth the size of your hand, who are fiercely territorial. If you ride one step within the invisible circle around their ger that marks their territory, god help you. They will often emerge thundering straight for you and barking their heads off like rabid lunatics, but the horses are (thankfully) well used to them: often more bark than bite, normally you can just skirt a safe distance around and keep motoring along. The expression “hold the dog” in Mongolian is a common way to announce your arrival at somebody’s ger, by asking them to please kindly restrain their pooch from mauling you on sight. MSC and the brothers Read hadn’t read this part of the Derby handbook, and got a little too close for comfort today. Luckily, they have learnt their lesson and escaped with just a serious fright and an exhilarating chase rather than any actual bodily harm.

While riders are learning how to manage their horses and find their way around, they’re also picking up some even more valuable Derby lessons. As Fred Berry (FBE) was proud to tell us today, the most special part of the Derby is by far the sense of community and camaraderie the race builds between the riders themselves. He couldn’t stop gushing about the saintliness of his new found friend and ger buddy Monica Erickson (MER), who he tells us selflessly nursed another of her rider friends (who shall remain anonymous) through a night of drunken misery, and then also helped a hapless FBE fix his bridle today. Today’s MVP award hands down goes to you, MER –  the biggest Derby prize of them all.

As another night sets on the steppe and the riders get their last night of rest in an actual bed until they reach the finish line, an ominous sign looms on the horizon: the thunder clouds rolled in, as Mother Nature reminds the riders it’s not always sunshine and river crossings out here. They can only pray their waterproofs are up to the task.

Before we leave you on the eve of the 2024 Mongol Derby, we thought we’d give you a quick run through of our crew members whose names and jobs are likely to pop up at some point along the next 10 days. The Mongol Derby is a staggering logistical operation: we enlist a huge crew, many of whom work year round, to put the Derby together and keep all our horses and riders safe out there.

Our Race Director Katherine and her two Deputy Race Directors Adrian and Thor are the nerve centre of the Derby. They’re online practically 24/7 throughout the race back from base camp in Ulaanbaatar, watching the riders’ and crew’s every move on their trackers. They monitor all messages for help, make sure nobody’s riding over the Russian border, and tell our crew where they need to be every day to keep the race moving. Make no mistake: without their expert knowledge and watchful eyes, none of this would be possible. Katherine’s also a Derby veteran from back in 2012 and has years of experience directing both the Mongol and Gaucho Derbies, so she knows exactly what we’re likely to be up against out there.

Our Intrepid Medics team are lead by Andy, and also include Tamara, Sarah and James. They’re excellent expedition medics who are responsible for keeping riders patched up and riding for the finish line, and also often end up being something of an emotional support team. On the horse side of things, our 9-strong vet team is led by Head Vet Fred, a world class equine vet who has already vetted multiple Derbies so knows exactly what to expect. He’s backed up by Monica (who was also part of the horse selection team for last year’s Derby), Holly, Hugh, Tim, Katie and Mongolian local vets Ochirbat and Ichinkhorloo. All are superb experienced equine vets, who will also often be found checking up on our host herder families’ own animals when they have a spare second. The vets are often also the main arbiters of the race: they’re the ones who issue the all-important vet penalties, when a rider’s horse doesn’t pass a vet check.

Our Ulaanbaatar office is headed by Shatra, a force of nature who’s been in charge of running the Derby’s year-round operations for years. She’s aided by our horse managers, who are each responsible for managing the horses and herder families that own them on a section of the 1,000km course. They are led by Ben, a 2022 Derby veteran who first came back to manage the horse selection process last year. He’s back for more, backed up by Otgoo, Davaa and Enkhmunkh, all former herders with incredible knowledge of Mongolian horses.

During the race, our Event Managers are responsible for keeping track of riders, making sure the rules are being enforced, and keeping order at all horse stations. This year we have Maggie, who has a huge amount of experience as an endurance riding coach in the UK and has been involved in the Derby since day 1, and Louise, who is also a Derby veteran who’s been back to the steppe to help out for years and knows the Derby inside out.

Our media team is led by Erik, who’ll be the face of this year’s new live broadcasts, interviews most of our riders and has worked for the Equestrianists in some form since way back in 2014, after riding the Mongol Derby in 2012 alongside Katherine. He also spends part of his year living in Mongolia, and can get along with literally anyone. He’s the man you want to cheer you up when you’ve just gone splat and lost your horse. Equestrianists and Adventurists founder Tom is the man that started it all, this year he’ll also be presenting some exciting new daily round ups. They’re supported by social media ninja Candie, who’s been managing our Derby content for years. CC is our Mongolian in-house expert, who does all our fantastic translations and adds some extra historical context. Our photos are provided by Kathy, who’s ridden the Derby herself not once but twice, and Tulgaa Skizz, a talented Ulaanbaatar photographer back for another year with us on the steppe. Rich provides all our stunning video content, and is also a long-standing member of the Equestrianists family. Holly is responsible for our daily blogs: she rode the Gaucho Derby in 2022 and the Mongol Derby last year as well as now being an event manager on the Gaucho, so she knows exactly what the riders will be feeling and experiencing out there on the steppe.

Not to mention our enormous team of host herder families, horse owners, local drivers, translators, cooks and camp managers. It takes a very bloody large village to pull this off, and we hope our efforts show over the next 10 days. So buckle up, enjoy the action, and prepare to join the jockeys on the ride of a lifetime. See you tomorrow for Day 1.

Photo credit: Kathy Gabriel, Shari Thompson, Tulgaa Skizz