Bob Long may be 70 years old, but no-one was going to stop him competing in the Mongol Derby horse race, a gruelling journey across the steppes of Mongolia.
“Preparation trumps youth,” says Bob.
Not only did Bob become the oldest person to finish what the Guinness World Records calls the longest multi-horse race in the world, he won it.
The annual race held over 10 days, traces the former mail routes of Genghis Khan with riders changing horses every 40km.
Mr Long, an amateur rider from Boise, Idaho, beat out 43 competitors this year, riding about 100 hours in around seven and a half days, on 28 different horses.
It costs about US$13,700 to enter, which includes a custom-made saddle, access to a medical response team and veterinarians to care for the horses, among other expenses.
Mr. Long says, “It took me about 15 minutes to decide that I could do it. I hated to think that I couldn’t.”
His fellow competitors now refer to Bob as “a legend.”
