Ripley Davenport Announces Gobi 2011 Expedition

British Adventurer Ripley Davenport has announced his plans for 2011 by launching a new website in support of his expedition to trek across the Gobi Desert. This new endeavor will spawn a documentary film about the trek and the team's interactions with the indigenous people of the Gobi, while also inspiring others to pursue adventures of their own.

Unlike his attempt to cross Mongolia on foot, which took place earlier this year, Ripley won't be going solo this time out. While he will serve as expedition leader, he'll be joined photographer and filmmaker Emmanuel Berthier, Christopher Schrader, who is a young endurance athlete and the youth ambassador for the expedition. The three men plan to set out on May 24th of next year, and expect the expedition to take approximately 60 days to cover the 1000 mile route through the Gobi.

One important element to this new adventure is that the team hopes to connect with a number of schools and encourage them to incorporate the expedition into their curriculum. In return, Ripley, Emmanuel, and Christopher hope to provide inspiration to the students by allowing them to gain insight into Mongolian culture, while also gaining an understanding of the importance of being responsible and engaged citizens of the planet. The team also hopes to instill a sense of adventure in the students as well, encouraging academic achievement to achieve their goals. For more on the Gobi 2011 School Project, click here.

The team is also looking for other adventurous people to join the fun, so if you have an interest in being part of the expedition, click here.

The Gobi is the fifth largest desert on the planet, spreading across northwest China and southern Mongolia. It is a land of extremes, and the expedition could face everything from heat stroke to freezing blizzards, with conditions changing very rapidly. It will be a test of their stamina for sure, but considering Ripley spent some time crossing the Gobi this year, it should feel like home when he arrives in 2011.

Good luck guys!

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The 2010 Gobi March Begins This Weekend!

The 2010 edition of the Gobi March is set to get underway this weekend, with more than 150 ultra-runners from around the globe descending on Urumqi, China to begin a week long stage race through the grueling environment of the Gobi Desert. 


The Gobi March is part of Racing The Planet's 4 Deserts series of ultramarathons. This one takes place in far western China in the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Each day will mark a stage of the race, with runners setting out in the morning carrying the supplies they will need for the day. The weather is traditionally quite warm, and dry, as you might expect from a desert race, and back in 2005, it actually reached 122ºF on one of the stages. 


At the end of each stage, the competitors will rest for the night in a tent city that is constructed for them by the race organizers. They'll have food, water and shelter while there, but once they hit the trail, it is up to them to make their way between checkpoints carrying their own gear and navigating through the open desert. The top competitors will finish the all six stages in a combined time of roughly 25 hours, but the bulk of the pack will be much further back than that. Day in and day out, this can be quite a difficult event, as the participants are essentially running nearly a marathon each day, in some of the most extreme conditions on the planet.

Maybe while their out there, they'll bump into Ripley Davenport. (And yes, I do know he's in Mongolia!)

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Gobi March 2009: The Long March is in Progress!

Today is Day 5 of the Gobi March, the stage race ultramarathon that started last Sunday in Gazi Village in the Xinjiang Province of China and will continue into this weekend, with competitors crossing the Gobi Desert on foot.

The race has moved into its fifth stage, the infamous Long March, which is nearly 80km (50 miles) in length, and stretches out over two days. According to the Gobi March website, some of the racers have reached a temporary, over-night camp, and have elected to stay there for the rest of the evening, while others will continue racing well into the night, hoping to reach the stage finish line early tomorrow, where they'll rest up for the final stage, which is a short 10km (6.3 mile) run through the Old City in Kashgar on Saturday. That portion of the town is scheduled to be demolished, and will no longer exist by the end of the year.

Heading into today's grueling stage, American Eric LaHaie holds down the top spot in the race overall, with a 1 hour and 15 minute lead over France's Carol Riel. Sean Abbot of the U.S. is in third, with Wei Weichao of China and Shane O`Rourke of Ireland in fourth and fifth place respectively. Diana Hogan-Murphy, also of Ireland, is currently running in 16th place overall and is the top female competitor heading into the Long March.

Racing through the Gobi, like all the 4 Deserts Marathons, is a demanding experience to say the least. The landscape is dominated by exposed rock more than sand and dunes, and the temperature can swing dramatically between day and night. The region gets less than 8 inches of rain in a year, and the Gobi stretches in all directions, covering more than 500,000 square miles, making it the second largest desert on Earth behind the Sahara.

All of that said, I'd still love to be there! :)

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Kiting Across Mongolia's Gobi Desert

Brother and sister team Eric and Sarah McNair Landry are 30 days into an epic expedition that has them kiting across the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Dubbed the Pittarak Expedition, the plan is to go from Altay in Western Mongolia, and head east to Saynshand.

I'm a bit late in joining this expedition, but they have been posting updates to their blog for the past month, and now roughly three days from reaching their goal. Eric and Sarah have been using three wheeled buggies and large kites to catch the wind and pull them across the open expanses of the Gobi. Of course, the siblings have honed those skills with a lot of time spent in the Arctic, where they have extensive experience, even at the ages of 22 and 20.

In their most recent blog update, they note that they have covered roughly 40km each of the past few days, and with just three days to go until they wrap up the journey, they still have to cover 130km to reach Saynshand. In that same entry, they report that spirits are low, and they are in desperate need of good winds to help them along, but so far they are being buffeted with headwinds instead. Without wind, they are dragging their buggies, and gear behind them, and making slow progress to say the least.

Lets hope they get the wind they need. Sounds like they are a bit low on supplies and are desperately in need of getting to the finish line. Seems like a cool expedition, and I'm bummed that I haven't been following it more closely. Better late than never though, right? :)

Thanks to ExWeb for the story on this.

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