MUM’S MONGOL DERBY ‘MIDLIFE CRISIS’
The Mongol Derby is billed as the longest and toughest horse race on earth – which sounds like the perfect challenge for a mum-of-two from Gloucestershire who has just turned 50.
Nine exhausting days, covering 1,000km on semi-feral ponies who may, or may not, decide to stay with you, the Mongol Derby is a modern-day replay of Genghis Khan’s messenger system across the Mongolian steppe.
“I tell people, this is my ‘turning 50, midlife crisis’ project,” Sophie de Rouet laughs, but it’s clear she’s only half joking.
A successful financial adviser, Sophie has ridden horses all her life, from the Pony Club to becoming master of foxhounds (twice), but recently it has begin to feel like time and adventure are slipping away.
“I used to do quite a lot of physically demanding events and challenges in my youth, both on and off a horse, although none quite as extreme as this. But then once you start a family your priorities changes and I haven’t really had the opportunity for a while,” explains Sophie.
“Then I had a fortuitous chat to a former competitor and as it was also the run up to my 50th birthday, all the gods seemed to align.
"The Mongol Derby felt like a good box to tick, promising to be a good adventure and a way to celebrate my 50th at the same time.”
The former competitor Sophie spoke to was Chris Walker, a property developer and farmer, also from Gloucestershire, who, at the age of 55, was the oldest competitor in the 2022 derby.
Despite being thrown from his horse on three occasions and getting repeatedly soaked while camping in a downpour, Chris finished joint third, and Sophie says she was wholly inspired by his experience.
“The derby had been in the fringes of my consciousness for a while, and then Chris nearly won it in 2022. He’s a good local friend and listening to him talk about the experience was inspirational.”
Having made up her mind to have a go, Sophie had to find the $15,000 entry fee and undergo an extensive interview process before being accepted.
“The organisers need to know that you can ride competently and that you have sufficient experience with horses,” says Sophie.
“They are very, very keen that you have horse welfare high up on your priority list, ahead of your ambitions to win the race.
“I also sent photos and video clips of me on my horses, and had a phone call interview.”
Despite the high price tag and the deprivations ahead, the Mongol Derby grows in popularity each year. However, places are limited to 50 to ensure the safety of both horses and riders.
As might be imagined, it’s a complex operation with a huge support team operating both on the ground and at race headquarters in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. All riders wear GPS tracking and dotted along the route are first responders made up of race crew, medics and equine vets.
Typically, only half of the riders who enter the race will make it across the finish line as competitors, with many of them falling victim to injury, sickness or exhaustion. However, there is the option to be bussed ahead to make up the gap and finish the race as an ‘adventure rider.’
Now in its 13th year – races in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to Covid restrictions – organisers say the Mongol Derby recreates “the world’s first long-distance postal transmission system,” an intricate network of horse stations set up exactly 800 years ago in 1224 by Genghis Khan.
This network of horse stations – or urtuus in Mongolian – enabled messengers for the Mongolian army to gallop from Kharkhorin to the Caspian sea in a number of days.
Although the Mongol Derby doesn’t have the threat of war or a fearsome empire builder spurring riders on – or even a prize – for nine days riders will race a route yet to be disclosed, stopping at 35km intervals to change horses, until they complete the 1,000-kilometre course.
“You race between 7am and 6pm,” explains Sophie. “Every 35km or so, you stop at the stations or urtuus, where you get food, water, a change of horse, and sleep if you want it.
“The aim is to do three to four stations a day, but if, for example, you get into a station at five o'clock in the afternoon, and it's not clear that you'll be able to get to another station before the riding cuts off at six, you have to decide whether you want to stay at that station and wait till the following morning, or whether you want to ride out into the steppe and hope to find a Mongolian family to put you up for the night or sleep under the stars.”
Although sleeping under the stars in the middle of nowhere sounds like bucket list material, the reality comes with no soft bed, no certainty of good weather and, more importantly, no guarantee your horse will be with you come morning time. Mongolian horses might only be 12hh to 14hh, but they helped build one of the most formidable empires in history and they take no prisoners.
Many of the 1,000-strong horses brought in for the derby belong to Mongolian herders and though they have been backed, they are not overly used to people or trained in any western sense of the word.
Before the race, all the horses are vet checked for fitness and there are no under-fives. Other than that, you ride whatever is waiting for you.
“The horses that they provide are semi-feral ponies,” says Sophie. “If they get the opportunity, they will go. I think losing your horse happens a lot in the race.
“One of my biggest concerns is that people fall off a lot. They fall off because either the horses buck or they trip in a marmot hole. Then, once you’re off, so are the horses. They don’t look over their shoulder to check you're okay.
“If you fall off, you might very well face a very long walk to the next station.”
As well as horse welfare and some epic terrain to navigate – all under their own initiative with no outside influence – competitors are expected to follow a number of rules or be penalised.
At each horse station, the veterinary team checks the horse is sound, reasonably hydrated, and returns to a resting heart rate no higher than 56bpm within half an hour of coming in.
Riders must also weigh no more than 85kg, dressed to ride, and there’s only a 5kg luggage allowance.
“Everybody starts on an equal footing,” explains Sophie.
“You all have the same tack, the same weight limits, and you're only allowed to carry five kilos of stuff for the whole ten-day race, and that includes your sleeping bag and anything else you want to take.
“So, you basically wear the same set of clothes for 10 days, and because some days it's hot, and some days it's cold, you need to plan carefully.”
With insider information gleaned from Chris Walker, one item that Sophie will be packing is polo bandages – but not for the horse.
“Chris's top tip is bandages worn under your chaps to protect your pressure points on the long ride and stop chafing. I’ll also be using wide tread stirrups which are easier on the feet and taking a neck strap.
“These Mongol horses are titchy, about 14 hands, and they have no front end at all.
“Someone asked in one of the preparation webinars whether she should take a neck strap and the guys in Mongolia slightly laughed saying the horse’s necks are so short that by the time you get hold of an extra strap you're off through the ears. But I'm still going to take one.”
While the Mongol Derby is billed as a race, for Sophie and many of her fellow competitors it has a deeper draw than that – it’s a chance to step back in time to an era when the lives of men and women revolved around their horses, in much the same way as people and their cars today.
It’s a chance to live the dream of the open plain with nothing but the ground drumming beneath your horse’s feet and the huge sky above.
It’s a chance to do something extraordinary, a once in a lifetime experience that will provide lasting memories and friends for life.
“My ambition is not really to win it,” admits Sophie. “I’d just like to finish. I'd like to complete the race.
“Of course, the Mongol Derby is risky because you're so far away from civilization, and I lurch from being excited to terrified by the prospect.
“But if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.”
The Mongol Derby starts on August 7 and you can follow Sophie’s progress here.
