Team 3 Fists In – Mongol Rally 2015
On the 19th of July team ‘3 Fists In’ along with hundreds of other competitors will set off on the Mongol Rally. This is an event that will take us across France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and finally finishing in Siberia. Yes that’s right it finishes in Siberia…The name is a bit of a misnomer this year as the organisers decided that driving thousands and thousands of miles to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia wasn’t quite far enough so they moved the finish line up into Ulan-Ude in Siberia instead.
Unlike many other rallies this one is completely unsupported. The Adventurists-who are the organisers- put on a little event when we leave, with some bunting and a couple of balloons and the same when we finish, but other than that we will be on our own through it all. The lack of support means choosing what to bring is a very important thing indeed. Our vehicle is only a 1-litre Suzuki SJ and there won’t be much space after three people have got in and stretched out. We’ll bring the barest tool kit and few spare parts, so we are hoping that nothing major will break on us. This will be more of a worry the further east we go as the roads get worse and the environment will change enormously.
Fortunately as far as the weather conditions are concerned we’ll be pretty covered, the gear we’ve received from Craghoppers is nice and light and easy to pack small in a bag (I know this from previous hiking adventures over the Alps, where it has more than proven its worth) and this will be very important in the cramped conditions of the SJ. Unsupported means dealing with any injuries or illnesses by ourselves too and there are millions of things on the way that can cause these. Fortunately Craghoppers have provided us with a big ol’ first aid kit to help combat this and hopefully it’ll mean we all come home in one piece.
The reason the whole event takes place is to raise money for different charities, the main charity that some of the sponsorship goes to is Cool Earth. This is a brilliant charity that works alongside indigenous villages to stop the callous destruction of the rainforest. We’ve chosen to support two others as well; Surfers Against Sewage, who work tirelessly to protect the oceans around Great Britain from pollution by organising beach cleans and big campaigns to stop waters we love being used as dumping grounds, and St Wilfrid’s Hospice of Eastbourne, who offer free care of the highest standard to anyone over 18 with an illness that is beyond the point of cure. Each of these charities is important to each of us and we have had very generous support from so many people to meet the target we need.
I haven’t mentioned yet that after we get to Ulan-Ude we still need to find our way back home! A lot of the other competitors have chosen to fly back and either sell their cars or ship them. However 3 Fists In have decided that, after a little over a month of travelling already, we would probably love the chance to sit in these lovely comfy clothes and bucket seats some more, so off we’ll go again on the road home. It’s a long road home too, after just over 4,000 miles of Russia we will enter back into Europe through Latvia and carry on through Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Belgium, France and finally end up on the shores of merry-ole-England.
We aim to keep in contact with the people at home through various blogs and Facebook using a wireless internet device from Xcom Global. This means that anyone interested in checking the latest place we have broken down, or what has recently fallen off the car can do so. We promise to get up to as much mischief and tomfoolery as we possibly can, so you can bet on it being fun to follow.