Apr
13
Matilda and The Mongol Derby
Filed Under Uncategorized
Someone ought to tell second children that they don’t have to try to prove that they are as good as the firstborn! Not content with studying Anthropology on exchange in Spain this year, in Spanish, our middle daughter Matilda has decided that she needed to do something a bit edgier… so she is racing in the inaugural Mongol Derby.
What’s the Mongol Derby? The longest and toughest horse race in the world…. 1000kms across the Mongolian steppes on half wild Mongolian ponies, dodging wolves and rabid dogs… and other riders…
I’ll let Tildy tell you.
“My name is Matilda Branson. I’m a 21 year old Australian student studying in Spain on exchange, and in August I’m off to Mongolia to ride 1000km in two weeks across the Mongolian steppes in the Mongol Derby, the toughest, longest horse race in the world. Riding hardy Mongolian ponies and living on mutton and mare’s milk, the race path will follow Ghengis Khaan’s original pony express changing ponies every 40km, all in the name of adventure and, most importantly, for charity.
Dubbed ‘The Mongol Derby’, it is the inaugural race organised by ‘The Adventurists’, an organisation that hosts a plethora of adventure-based rallies and races in their fight to raise money for charity (for the Mongolian nomads, some of the poorest people in the world) while at the same time creating an event to cater for the red blooded adventurers amongst us.
With only twenty-five competitors selected from throughout the world including myself representing Australia, the Mongol Derby is going to be a race like no other, an ultimate test in endurance. We have to carry all our gear - 10kg limit - food, water. No roads, no signs. Just me and the desert, and 24 other maniacs…but’s it for a good cause!
Being raised on a farm in central Victoria, in the southern part of Australia, and having grown up with horses, I’m ready to race.
Tally-ho!
Matilda Branson, the Hopeful Champ of the Mongol Derby.”
Matilda has to raise a lot of money to cover the cost of participation and the charity contribution, so naturally, she has turned to her parents as number one sponsors, so we thought we’d offer a special Mongol Derby Dozen to the people on our mailing list, with a large chunk of each case sold going to Matilda’s assault on the derby. Stay tuned!
To find out more about the inaugural Mongol Derby, check out the following links:
Her website for the Derby is http://mongolderby09.theadventurists.com/matildainmongolia, and the email for directly giving to the charity is http://www.justgiving.com/matildainmongolia
To read more about the race itself, go here:
http://mongolderby.theadventurists.com/
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