FORT KENT, Maine — Years of training and dedication to entering the Mongol Derby — recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s longest horse race — have finally paid off for Kelsy Stromski, who has now crossed the finish line.
Stromski, a Fort Kent native who now lives in Newbury, Massachusetts, was accepted out of just a handful of horseback riders in the world to participate in this year’s derby, held last month in Mongolia.
The race spans 600 miles, or 1,000 kilometers, which is the approximate distance between Fort Kent and New York City. The race involves riding on roughly 30 semi-wild horses that are changed out every 40 kilometers over the course of 10 days.
The conditions were brutal, Stromski said. The weather was extremely hot, leading to dehydration and extreme fatigue. Half of the 42 international riders dropped out, but Stromski persevered and crossed the finish line in 20th place.
Many of the riders who dropped out did so because of injuries, heat stroke, or general fatigue.
“I feel great to have finished, but also wonderful to have finished without injury,” she said. “I also didn’t have any vet penalties.”
Vet penalties occur when a horse is injured or its pulse is above 56 beats per minute.
Stromski said it was particularly difficult controlling some of the horses throughout the race. While most horses just aimed to please, she said others had no brakes.
The weather posed another difficulty, and there were a couple days where racers had to hold off during the hottest hours of the afternoon for the safety of the horses.
“It’s not like 120 degrees, I’m sure it wasn’t, but I would douse my long sleeve sunshirt in the horse toughs at each station and then put it back on to just try and keep as cool as possible between each flag,” she said.
And though she feels fortunate to have escaped the race unscathed, she said this will be her first and final experience with the Mongol Derby. The race not only requires years of training, but it was also expensive to enter. Stromski had to raise $20,000 to participate in the race.
Of that amount, $18,000 covered the entry fee and went toward caring for horses, crew, vets, medics, translators, and towards the families in Mongolia who help make the race happen every year. The remaining $2,000 covered travel expenses.
All of this motivated Stromski even more to cross the finish line. If for some reason she did not finish this year, she said she would have maybe considered trying again in the future.
The race required rigorous training, which Stromski said was necessary when riding some of the horses, which are over 1,000 pounds.
“Some took a lot more coaxing than others,” she said. “It took every ounce of energy I had.”
Stromski, who was the only rider from New England this year, said she met plenty of interesting people during her time in Mongolia. She said about a third of the participants were there to just make it through the race unscathed, which was her goal.
“I was with other women who were just intent on finishing,” she said. “Even though we could have kept riding out for another hour until the heat hold started, we would have just been baking in the sun at that point. We’re already pushing ourselves, but we’re not going to be stupid about it. We were just all looking to finish.”
Stromski befriended a rider from Canada named Michelle Whetung. The two stayed together for a good part of the race and helped each other out.
“I had a horse I nicknamed ‘Psycho Snail’ because he would either go at mach speeds or he would crawl, and there was no in between,” Stromski said. “And if [Michelle] hadn’t come back for me to have her horse alongside mine and give it the motivation to keep going, I would have had to walk at least 15 kilometers back to the next station.”
She said the race was undoubtedly the hardest thing she has ever done, and the seventh day was particularly rough. Stromski dealt with overwhelmingly high temperatures on a rough horse whose galloping caused her to throw up water four times while trying to stay hydrated.
“You can be as strong and fit as possible, but if you’re dehydrated your body is going to shut down, so it took everything to get to the next station,” she said.
But at the next station she was told that she couldn’t stay the night there, and had to travel another 30 miles to the next station.
“So I had a cry, and then I was with Michelle again who pulled me along,” she said.
Once she finally reached the next station, she had to receive an IV with two bags of fluid and some medication. Her health fortunately continued to improve, and she said she was feeling much better by the final day of the race.
Stromski’s advice for anyone hoping to race in the derby, or with any big goals or dream, is to make sure you’re surrounded by positive people and stay true to personal goals.
“There’s always going to be plenty of reasons not to do something, but it’s very important to keep those people and those reasons for why you should do something close to you,” she said. “It’s easy to just coast through life in a way, but if you look back and you haven’t set any goals for yourself, all of those months and years just kind of blend together.”