“Unveiling Secrets: How Jess Phoenix’s ‘The Race’ Transforms the Meaning of Survival in an Unforgiving World”
“Come on, dude. Only a few more minutes.”
He wasn’t budging, but my exhausted brain sparked enough for me to recall that Mongolian horses have a different command prompt than my big Thoroughbreds back home.
“Ch-ch-ch!”
The tension dropped from the reins as he stepped towards me. I lobbed a glance back towards the empty skyline before I walked on. I still could not be certain that I saw the lights of an urtuu, and I wanted something solid to tell Erik and George when they caught up.
***
A few days earlier, I had joined up with a group of other Americans to share the adventure and misery of the world’s longest horse race. The route was a staggering 1,000 kilometers—roughly 660 miles—spanning countryside once ruled by Genghis Khan. The Mongol Derby was loosely billed as mimicking the vast postal system implemented by Khan around the year 1200, and promised an experience like nothing else on present-day Earth. To ensure an even playing field for both animals and humans, horse changes were scheduled to occur every 26 miles at urtuus, or horse stations, staffed by Mongolian families contracted for the job.
