News : VanWeelden to ride in "the longest and toughest horse race in the world"

Shelby Van Weelden shared her plans to ride in the Mongol Derby next fall

Shelby Van Weelden of Coggon, and the daughter of Vinton resident Melody Snow was welcomed by the Vinton Kiwanis Club on Tuesday. Shelby is a firefighter in Cedar Rapids, but she came to speak about something completely different. She has plans to ride in the Annual Mongol Derby, in Outer Mongolia in August of 2024. The derby is a 621 miles horse race that lasts 10 days. Out of the 40 riders, Shelby said that there were only eight that didn't finish the race last year.

She will be riding on behalf of a charity called the St. Florian Burn Foundation which supports burn victims in Iowa and South Dakota. For winning the race, the prize is bragging rights.

Shelby heard about the race nearly five years ago, when she ran across another racer on Facebook who had competed in the derby, and her interest was peaked. She applied last year and was accepted out of applications from around the world to be one of the 40 racers.

The race is based on Genghis Khan's mighty horse messenger system that connected half the planet, a postal delivery service that was in place until the 1940s. The Mongold Derby has no pony trail or a guided tour. There's no marked course, no packed lunches, no beds to sleep in. The whole point is that it's just the rider and the team of horses. The race is 1,000 kilometers or a little more than 621 miles in the wilderness. The course consists of 25 horse stations called, "morin urtuu" in Mongolian, placed 25 miles apart. Horses are swapped out and the rider takes a moment to recharge at each station. How the riders make it through the race and navigate it, is up to them.

The route is tested for months before the derby to make sure it fits the horses. The riders will travel through high passes, huge valleys, wooded hills, river crossings, wetland, dunes and of course open plains.

Prior to the race, Shelby will go through a boot camp to help prepare her for the race. A rider for years, she has had her share of injuries, including a broken back twice. This ride will be an endurance ride and will test her metal. Training for this ride will be intense. Riders will have a medical staff and veterinarians nearby in case the racers need assistance.

The race costs $15,000 and a little more than half has been paid toward her fees. If you would like to donate, you can do that via Venmo @Shelby-VanWeelden or PayPal and her email is shelbyvanweelden@gmail.com

To see a bit about this unique race click HERE.