Mongol Rally

Mongol Rally

For many participants, the Mongol Rally is over. At last count, 199 of the 250-odd cars that journeyed thousands of kilometers toward Ulaanbaatar—starting from London, Milan or Madrid—had arrived in Mongolia’s capital. For a select few, however, the Rally never ends. This small group runs the Adventurists, a company which oversees the Mongol Rally’s operations.

Ralliers sometimes call them "the organizers," but they seem equally content with an antithetical moniker, "the disorganizers." When one year’s batch of vehicles rolls into town, the Adventurists begin preparing for next year’s run. Two of the group, Tom Morgan and Jenny Hunter, are in Ulaanbaatar for the next month taking inventory of arrived cars and ensuring charities receive the money raised by the rally. Last Thursday, they sat at Cafe Amsterdam before two small computers discussing rally business. Morgan nursed a hangover; perhaps it reminded him of one in 2001 when first developed the wild project.

Seven years ago, Morgan embarked on a predecessor to the Mongol Rally. A student at the time, he was researching art in the Czech Republic when inspiration struck. "I bought a FIAT 126, which is a fundamentally rubbish car," he said. "Me and a friend called Joolz, we just got very drunk and pointed to the most stupid place in the world we could think of, then we set off on our adventure together" (Morgan, you may have guessed, is patently British).

Their destination was Ulaanbaatar; they never arrived. However, Morgan could not abandon the idea of a cross-continental odyssey in a liter-sized auto. "I set up a website because we had an awful lot of fun and I wanted to hold it as an event that raised money for charity," he said. "Then I just kind of left it until 2004."

That year saw the birth of the Mongol Rally. "We set up an event, over a week, while I pretended it was really organized," Morgan said. "Basically we lied horribly, but six teams took part and then it grew from that."

Four of the pioneering teams that departed from London, including Hunter’s and Morgan’s, eventually made it to Ulaanbaatar where they sold the vehicles and donated the money to charity. In 2008, 300 people signed up for the Rally and over 250 leave from launch sites in London, Milan and Madrid.If you thought slacker heroes were fictional, Morgan is proof incarnate these people exist. His early endeavors, however, were not so successful.

"I left University and I swore I’d never get a job. I spent a year trying to make a million pounds in a year from nothing," he said. "It failed at the first hurdle; it was a good idea though."

After scraping together 500 pounds, Tom bought a Fiat 500, planning to repair it, sell it for a profit, buy another piece of equipment, repair it, etc. and thus amass his fortune. Sitting in the passenger seat of his new purchase, he fell through the floor. "Having never restored a car, I thought I’d by the worst car I could find—literally the floor fell off—and I thought, that’s all right, I can restore that in two weeks," he said.

"I’d never welded before, and six months later I was swearing my ass off in the garage, failing miserably to restore it. I still have it; it doesn’t work; it’s got no engine; it’s got no paint, but the floor’s fixed. So that wasn’t very successful." Speaking with Morgan, you wonder what keeps the bottom from falling out under the Mongol Rally operation until one meets Hunter. The Rally’s functionality becomes clearer; she and Morgan have dated for several years and she radiates togetherness.

They seem an ideal pair. Morgan provides zany schemes and Hunter makes them attainable. Last year, they reached Morgan’s post-university goal of making a million—the Mongol rally has raised over 1 million pounds for charity as of 2007.

However, the rally is demanding and Morgan has had to work for every penny. "When I started it, it was going to be a hobby, something fun to do in my spare time," he said. "Then I realized I didn’t have any spare time, and it was my entire time and I was extremely broke so it kind of turned into a company that way."
And the work, according to Hunter, does not always thrill. "A lot of it is very boring actually," she said. "It looks like a very glamorous job—like oh wow you’re running the Mongol Rally—and you’re like that involves a lot of paperwork, bureaucracy, data entry, emails."


As tedious and frustrating as this work can sometimes be, getting to see and hear about the ralliers experiences keeps the event organizers onboard. "That’s the fulfilling bit, when you see people get to UB and they’re like: oh my god, that was amazing," Hunter said. "That’s what makes it worth it." Not everyone has completed the 2008 trek. Approaching two months of travel, some teams remain on roads heading toward Ulaanbaatar.

About 20 cars are stuck on Mongolia’s border as governmental uncertainty has lead to exit-and-entry confusion at certain check points. 10 cars broke down completely during the rally. Their drivers and passengers left the vehicles and found other ways to get to Ulaanbaatar or returned home. Currently, Hunter and Morgan work to retrieve abandoned cars, but Rally drivers who find themselves stranded must find their own way.

"We go to long lengths to explain that yes it is quite dangerous and participants really are on their own," Morgan said. "We basically provide the community and help with the paperwork and stuff like that, but in terms of backup we provide absolutely nothing and we kind of stick to that religiously. We want to hold an adventure and by their nature an adventure is obviously dangerous."

In order to impress this fact upon people, the Adventurists make rally participants sign a 30-plus page contract which enumerates the journey’s potential dangers and inconveniences, eliminating the organizers’ responsibility. Still, not everyone seems prepared for what they get themselves into.

"I kind of think most people enjoy the rally about two weeks after it’s finished," Morgan said. "All the way through they’re going: that bastard Tom Morgan, what a crap idea, conning us into joining the Mongol rally when we could have been on the beach." But then, that is the rally’s purpose. "The idea is to try and make life as difficult as possible—you can drive to Mongolia in a big four by four of course, but it’s a different kind of game. The point is to get into trouble, to work it out and to find out the world for yourself," Morgan said. "It’s much more interesting and you get a broader experience of a country when you break down in the ass-end of nowhere; you get much more involved in the culture that you’re traveling through."

Despite hardships and dangers—Ralliers reportedly had close shaves this year ranging from oxen crashes to military strikes near their vehicles—people now rush to join the Mongol Rally. Morgan estimates a 2009 Rally signup list filled in under a minute. This popularity owes a key debt to former ralliers passing on stories about their experience. "We’re lucky that we’ve never really lifted a finger to advertise it," Morgan said.

According to the Adventurists, the rally’s charity component helps raise its profile and attracts teams. "It’s amazing to see the results of some of the charity money that gets spent," Hunter said. "It’s really satisfying to see buildings and things that actually make a difference." Teams must raise at least 1,000 pounds for charity to join the rally, most of which is donated to charities in Mongolia (such as Mercy Corps, CNCF, etc.), while some gets dispensed to charities in nations ralliers pass through along the way. Morgan, Hunter and company keep their operation going by collecting an entry fee from participants.

High demand has forced the company to expand into new territory. Currently the Adventurists also organize an Africa Rally, a Rickshaw Run in India, and Ruta Del Sol (an adventure involving Volkswagen Beatles) in South America. Six staff members work fulltime and projects keep them constantly occupied. "I guess my main mistake was totally underestimating the amount of work involved, a bit like my FIAT 500 and my two week estimate, Morgan said. "I thought this won’t be so hard, then I realized that was a complete lie and it would very clearly take every waking hour." He may soon have to stretch his days longer. "We’re going to launch a few new adventures soon," Morgan said. "We’re trying to move away from cars cause they’re a bit boring." Details will appear on the Adventurist’s website over the coming days, but for now, in the spirit of journey’s into unknown lands: "They’re under wraps, totally under wraps."

by William Kennedy
THE UB POST