Meet adventure race organiser Tom Morgan: ‘I swore I would never have a proper job’ *H&H Plus*

Mongol Derby

Tom Morgan on basing a race on Genghis Khan’s postal system, and the genius of Mongolian horsemen

When I left university, I swore I would never have a proper job. I always found the most interesting times I had while travelling were when I had no plan and everything went wrong – that’s an adventure.

I can’t say a lot of thought went into founding the Adventurists – the parent company of the Equestrianists – it began in the early 2000s with the Mongol Rally, a race in rubbish cars which begins in the UK and ends in Ulan-Ude, Russia.

I charged nothing for people to enter, and even then it wasn’t very popular – six people came along when I imagined there would be thousands. When I did it for a second time I realised that money would be useful, so I charged people £50.

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