Alumni combats longest horse race in the world

St Peter’s alumni Elise Stables is the youngest ever New Zealander to compete in the longest, toughest horse race in the world - the Mongol Derby. She placed 10th out of 45 riders.

Riders have ten days to cross the Mongolian Steppe on small semi-wild ponies. The entire course is 1000km long, with stations every 35-40km. Ponies had to pass a vet check, with a heart rate of 56 beats per minute or under, before the rider could collect another horse and continue the race.

Elise said the first two days of the race were hypothermic going through the mountain passes so a lot of the riders would stop at the stations to warm up in a ger – similar to a yurt – where there were warmth, food, and shelter. Each ger had a Mongolian family there to host the competitors.

“I wasn’t stopping to warm up, I would get to the station, get the next horse and go. It would generally take about half an hour to get the pony’s heart rate down,” she said. “Some of the horses I rode would be able to go flat tack for 25km, take it easy the last 10km, walk the last 2km, then pull up fine. With some, I would take their gear off and carry it alongside them but their heart rate still took a long time to come down.” She rode a total of 29 horses.

When she did stop overnight in a ger, as females were not advised to camp out by themselves at night, she was fed mutton soup, goat meat pies, and water. All of the food was fried in animal lard. “The Mongolian people are just the coolest, they want to give you the best of everything; their best food, best horses, and even their bed,” said Elise. “They use every single part of the animal, so nothing goes to waste. On my first night in a ger I was sleeping under a goat carcass with its legs strung up,” she laughed. “One of the best things was the milk. They would milk it directly from the cow and warm it up for you, and it was just so delicious. It kept me going for two days.” Another strange thing she tried was fermented horse milk, which “tasted like blue cheese mixed with yoghurt, but fizzy.”

Riders had a 5kg pack limit so Elise took an air pillow with her, something she didn’t regret as it helped her get a comfortable sleep. “I found that by the end of it, I didn’t need over half the stuff I had packed anyway. I took protein bars but gave them all away because I didn’t want them. I lost 5kgs in the seven days I was racing, but I accepted all the food I was given.” Riders would often give cigarettes to the male herders to break the ice.

Elise saw plenty of wild animals, including other horses and dogs. “The wild dogs were the scariest because they would chase you in a pack. We had a pack on the fourth day that just us for 5km along a river, but the horses can outrun them.”

Another thing the riders had to look out for was the marmot holes out in the steppe. The giant squirrel-like animals would burrow into the ground, causing it to crumble under the weight of the horses. “It’s crazy how smart the horses are though, they are so sure-footed and the Mongolian people are so, so proud of their horses. You would enter a ger and see all the medals from various races. For them it’s their way of life, they’re horse trainers out there and they have herds of other animals that all migrate with them,” said Elise.

Elise fell off one horse when it spooked, but fortunately, she was riding with another girl who was able to chase the pony and catch it. “One key thing is to keep hold of the horses, otherwise they bolt and you have no ride. But we never left a man down, that was a big thing with all of the riders and crew, we all helped each other. There wasn’t one point in the race where I felt unsafe,” she said.

Elise’s official time was seven and a half days. She and the other top ten riders camped out at the end, waiting for the other riders to come in. “It’s really hard coming home and explaining the experience to everyone. But the people we rode with, we all have these stories to hold onto. It was awesome to meet likeminded people, and know that I could travel to some crazy corner of the Earth with them and it would be fine.”

She recommends the Mongol Derby to any keen adventurer or rider wanting to push themselves. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s not hard, it was a lot more painful than I thought it would be, but there was no point in the race where I felt like I couldn’t finish. I still can’t say what riding 1000km feels like, it didn’t initially feel like I had travelled that far. But once I showered and slept after finishing, my body was telling me it’d had enough for a while.” She would like to thank her sponsors Kathmandu and Excel Equine.

Elise is already planning her next wild adventure. “I came back with very itchy feet. Next, I want to go find the Nenet People in Siberia, who live in negative 40-degree weather in winter with their reindeer. Unfortunately, they are in danger because of all the oil drilling and train lines being installed,” she said.