Stevie Murray writes about her Race

The Wild Coast Race. The vast remoteness, the challenges of terrain, the demand on your mind and body are all unparalleled; and I have done the Mongol Derby. I cannot talk about one without comparing it to the other, even though the races are quite different and unrelated besides their embodiement of great physical and mental challenges coupled with equine transport (if terrain and horse allow). Both test horsemanship and riding abilities but the Wild Coast forces a stronger bond between you and your mounts with a very real ‘sink or swim’ measure of that bond.

I completed the Mongol Derby without a single ‘unexpected dismount,’ and two years of consistent competition and horse riding later found me in the Race the Wild Coast where on horse number one, I was fallen upon. On horse two, I nearly plummeted to my death off the track (no really, this is not an exaggeration, just ask fellow competitor Jamey Altman about his reacurring nightmares from having observed it). And on horse three, I was neatly rolled over on as my horse flipped end over end on top of me when he refused to listen to me about stepping in a hole in the track.

I survived without so much as a scratch and the worst any of my horses suffered was a lost shoe (twice, same horse, who ceremoniously finished with three shoes only), but I underwent far more than I had ever expected such a race to produce.

When you’ve done the Mongol Derby you get to thinking that nothing will ever compare again; I was wrong. Race the Wild Coast is far more technically and physically challenging (depending on how much you, or in my case, your horse team chooses you will spend on foot) and the hectic but breathtaking terrain is no comparison. I have never experienced such remote and enchanting beauty in all my life. From conch shell strewn beaches covered only in horse hoofprints to shining waves crashing against cliffsides as dolphins and whales play within them to tropical hillsides drenched in green; the Wild Coast will easily be the most beautiful place you’ve ever ridden. I promise a fulfilling adventure to anyone who dares to put a hoof on the GPS lines of Race The Wild Coast.