This August I took part in an epic race that is staged each year across 1000km of the Mongolian Steppe. The Mongol Derby is a modern incarnation of Ghengis Khan’s horse messenger system, which he originally set up in 1224 to deliver military intelligence at breakneck speed across the empire.

35-40 riders from around the world completely expose themselves to the elements of the High Steppe for the 10 day duration of the Derby and face extremes of temperature, storms, high winds, and blistering sun. But this isn’t an endurance race for the horses; riders stop every 40km to change their semi-wild steeds at stations run by Mongolian families. Mongol horses are one of the smallest of the species, but they are seriously tough - as well as feral! Most of my competitors are semi-professional riders, which made me initially feel fantastically under-qualified to take part. I am happy to be able to say now, that I achieved my main aim of completing the entire course in one piece and returning home to my children without any permanent injuries!

I’m a fairly novice rider but I was in training for this since October 2016 - I actually thought I could ride at the point that I entered this horse-race - but then I really started training for it with professional endurance riders and realised just how far I had to go! More than a few times I've thought I might just have bitten off a bit more than I can chew :/  

Now that it's all over, I feel really grateful to everyone for all their incredible support! It has made all the difference and I feel proud to have raised some money for this charity. Thank you.