SA Man of the Week: Craig Egberink

This week’s SA Man of the Week, KZN’s Craig Egberink, put his body and mind to the test and came out tops, in the longest and toughest horse riding competition in the world, the Mongol Derby 2011.

Covering over 1000 kilometres, the race crosses

the Mongolian steppes, with competitors swapping their mounts for fresh horses at regular intervals, every 40 kilometres. The race has been described by the organisers, The Adventurists as a re-creation of Genghis Khan's legendary postal system and involves up to 1000 Mongolian horses.

Competitors are dropped "in the middle of nowhere" on the Mongolian steppe near the capital, Ulan Bator and had 10 days to travel the 1 000km distance, with only a pony, GPS and five kilograms of essentials. Riders endure river crossings, hills, dehydration and sunburn, and eat whatever the local Mongolian herders do.

Egberink led the field for most of the race and crossed the line in first place, in what turned out to be a nail biting finish. Sanbayier, a Mongolian entrant, had been catching up over the last few days of the Derby crossed the line just 2 minutes later to claim second place. Of the 23 contestants that started, only 15 remained by the time Egberink crossed the finish line.

Egberink has a fierce passion for horses. He owns four and has been riding since he was a young boy. He has also taken part in endurance races locally, but decided to take it to another level when he entered the derby. Egberink went through nine months of training and read a lot to prepare himself mentally.