Hi, my name is Bindi Boshammer and I'm competing in the 2024 Mongol Derby, the longest and toughest horse race in the world. I'm also fundraising for Zara's Day and Steppe and Hoof with funds split as 80% to Zara's Day and 20% to Steppe and Hoof.

What is the Mongol Derby?

It was the nerve system of the largest empire in human history, and at its height, Genghis Khan’s mighty horse messenger system connected half the planet. For a decade, this ancient network is the stage of the world’s greatest equine adventure race, The Mongol Derby.

I am very excited to be riding in The Mongol Derby, the longest and toughest horse race in the world. On August 7th, I will be one of about 45 riders from around the world lining up at the start line of the 1,000km race across the Mongolian Steppe. This is no ordinary horse race; the semi-wild horses are supplied by nomadic herder families and the riders navigate using a GPS and map, surviving on their own skills and wits, living among the herders, and changing steeds every 40km at each of the 28 urtuus (horse stations) along the course.

To add to the challenge, we are only permitted 5kg of kit for the race carried in our backpacks and saddlebag, and we must cross the finish line within 10 days. With strict riding hours if we’re not at an urtuu by 7pm, we must find a local family on the steppe to take us in for the night, or camp under the stars and hope our horse doesn’t do a Harold Holt in the middle of the night. Rumour has it the horses are very skilled at covering a lot of distance overnight, even with the hobbles on!

Alongside the race, I am raising money for Zara’s Day (80%) and Steppe and Hoof (20%).

Zara’s Day

http://zarasday.com.au

Since 2020, Zara’s Day has been honouring the life of Zara Hilary Boshammer, and supporting two charities of significance to her, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (QLD Section) and the Steve Waugh Foundation. Zara was my niece (Justin and Kate’s daughter), who passed away at almost seven months of age.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides incredible life-saving services to rural and remote communities. The RFDS in Queensland provides access to primary health care and aeromedical services across the state. Their emergency retrieval service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, delivering the finest care to more than 330,000 Australians each year – that’s one person every two minutes. In addition to aeromedical retrievals of the critically ill or injured, the RFDS also delivers a broad range of essential primary and preventative healthcare services, including telehealth, mental health, oral health, and health promotion. Zara and her mum Kate flew with them twice (from Miles to Brisbane), to quickly access the high level of support required at Queensland Children's Hospital.

The mission of the Steve Waugh Foundation is to enhance the lives of children and families affected by a rare disease. They help improve quality of life through providing grants for therapies, treatment, and equipment, and provide "somewhere to turn" for these families. This is a cause very close to our hearts. Zara was born with an extremely severe and rare disease, Pallister Killian Syndrome (PKS). PKS has no known cause nor cure, and it is a life-limiting condition with many medical and developmental challenges. Zara was 1 in 1.3 million diagnosed with PKS in Australia, and just 1 in 15 million worldwide.

Riding for Zara is a key element of this adventure. While she got to spend time with her older brother’s pony, Joker, she never got to know the sheer delight of riding a horse, feeling the wind in her hair and experiencing the privileged relationship that can exist between a rider and a horse. As they say, in riding a horse we borrow freedom and there's a part of me that wants her to have that freedom.

Steppe and Hoof

https://www.steppeandhoof.org/

Mongolian herders are one of the last groups of the pastural nomads left on earth. For a millennium these nomads have lived on the steppes, grazing their animals on vast grasslands while passing their culture virtually unchanged from generation to generation.

Steppe and Hoof are striving to preserve the unique tradition and culture that existed for so long in Mongolia while giving herders modern tools, services, and training to make it possible for them to succeed in today's world. For those herders most in need, they also provide hay and livestock assistance to help get herders back to their feet and standing on the ground they called home for so many generations.

I have long had a love for seeing and experiencing nature in different places both within Australia and around the world, being surrounded by different plants, different animals and different sounds has an indescribable effect on me that reminds me it is good to step out of everyday life sometimes and just live. The Mongol Derby is one of those things you hear about and the first response is no way, I couldn't do that, it's too hard. It would be amazing, but not me, I can't. I thought that for a long time but eventually after years of watching the race updates on Facebook and hearing more about it, my need to adventure somewhere new and wild got the better of me, and I decided that I had to make it happen. I didn't want to get old one day and wish I had done it. So I jumped online and signed up, then when I next went to the gym I told my personal trainer what I was doing, asked for his help, and since then I've been making it happen.

For two years I’ve been preparing and training for the race, including a strict gym program, training in Mongolia in 2023, beating a well-worn track on the horses on my weekends, and learning some Mongolian. I’m about as prepared as I can be, and I hope you can follow along as I make my journey across the Land of the Eternal Blue Sky in August.

How to track and support Bindi’s ride:

The official Mongol Derby website will show each rider’s position on the course, and provides the details of all the competitors in this year’s race.