The goal is to ride a 621-mile circuit (1,000 kilometers) of Mongolian steppe in less than ten days.

Fewer than half of the riders are expected to make it across the finish line. The rest will either quit or be carried off the course by the medical team. Broken bones and torn ligaments are common, frustration and bruised egos the norm. Every rider will fall off multiple times during the course of the race.

The race route is modeled on the horse relay postal system created under Genghis Khan in 1224, which was instrumental in the expansion of the Mongolian Empire. [S]pecially appointed postal riders would gallop more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to a morin urtuu, or horse relay station, where another escort would be waiting with a fresh horse.

At the postal route’s zenith, a letter could cross from Kharkhorin in the east to the Caspian Sea on the far western edge of the empire, a distance of some 4,225 miles (6,800 kilometers), in two weeks (an average of about 300 miles, or 480 kilometers, a day).

Postal riders continued to deliver the mail until 1949, when the Soviet Union—which then controlled Mongolia—shut down the system in an attempt to erase the history of Genghis Khan from the country.

Mongolian horses are unique for several reasons. Genetically, they are considered to be horses despite being the size of a pony. A horse is typically 5 feet (157 centimeters) or taller at the base of the neck. While on average Mongol horses are only 4.6 feet (143 centimeters) tall, they are considered horses because of their head structure and bone size.

Despite their diminutive size, today’s Mongol horses are the same breed ridden by Genghis Khan’s conquering warriors — able to run long distances and to withstand a wide range of temperatures, from -40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 to 30 degrees Celsius).

The Mongol Derby isn’t cheap, though. There is an entrance fee of over $13,000, and entrance is not guaranteed but subject to an interview. Moreover, the route itself shifts as much as 25% every year – this actually makes it even more accurate, since the original route varied as well, as different families rotated responsibility for each of the various way stations.

You don’t bring your own horse, as well – these are barely tamed horses, and like the original postal route, a particular horse only runs between stations, meaning this is much more of a challenge for the rider than the horses.

This year, over a thousand horses were involved, each with GPS and a network of vets and support to ensure sufficient water across the route, a not-inconsiderable problem given the terrain.

This is actually particularly interesting to me, since I’ve considered for a long time riding across Mongolia, though an actual race like this would break me, I am quite sure – that good a rider I am not.

Via National Geographic.