Meet Deirdre Griffith, First Wyoming Woman To Win World's Longest Horse Race

UPDATE: Sick Wyoming Woman Pulls Out Of World’s Toughest Horse Race, Then Is Abandoned In Mongolia

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Dede Anders had to drop out of the Mongol Derby just before it began Wednesday.

Powell Dede Anders was set to begin the first stretch of the grueling Mongol Derby on Wednesday, the world's longest and toughest horse race.

But the Wyoming horsewoman wasn’t able to start the race after becoming ill in Mongolia.

In a Facebook post to Cowboy State Daily, Anders said she’s stuck in Mongolia until Sunday.

“I’m actually sick and stuck in Mongolia at a hotel the Mongol Derby administration dumped me off at; next flight to U.S. is the 11th. Thanks Mongol Derby!” she posted.

She added in a follow-up post that when it became clear she couldn’t compete, race officials didn’t seem that interested in her wellbeing.

“When I told admin I was sick and wanted to scratch, they called a driver and put me in a car for 8 hours then gave me my passport back in the city, had a driver drop (me) at a hotel and washed their hands of me,” she posted.

Wanted To Cheer Her On

Jackson resident Deirdre Griffith won the race in 2022 and told Cowboy State Daily she planned to cheer Anders on from thousands of miles away.

"I'm excited to watch Dede compete this year," Griffith said before Anders had to drop out. "We're always cheering for Wyomingites, and we've got a great Mongol Derby legacy."

While Anders won’t be able to continue a Wyoming legacy of excellence at the Mongol Derby, Griffith recalled her journey to win the world’s toughest horse race.

Griffith was the first Wyoming woman to win the Mongol Derby, splitting the victory with fellow rider and friend Willemien Jooste in July 2022. She knows what an arduous, strategic and life-changing experience it is to follow Genghis Khan's horse messenger route through inner Mongolia.

Griffith described the Mongol Derby as "stressful, adventurous and lots of fun."

The experience changed her life and continues to impact the lives of others.

"The ride itself is really about physical fitness, not necessarily horse ability," she said of the 620-mile race. "You need to be a good rider, but it's really about physical and mental endurance. You have to be prepared for 10 days of long hours in the saddle. If you're mentally prepared for that, you can do anything."

Strength From Adversity

Griffith grew up in San Francisco and took up horsemanship while attending The Thacher School, a boarding school in Ojai, California. The love of riding started at Thacher eventually led to a degree in Equine Sciences from Colorado State University, which was also where she was first exposed to the Mongol Derby.

"I found out about it through a friend of mine who went to Thacher and had done it in 2017," she said.

Griffith was captivated by every aspect of the long-distance horse race, which would require all of her physical and mental endurance to complete.

"There are some things in life you find out about, and you just can't not do," she said. "The Mongol Derby was that for me. As soon as it entered my consciousness, I knew I had to do it."

But there was also a deeper personal motivation fueling Griffith's desire to compete. She had just given birth to her second daughter in 2017 and was struggling through the throes of postpartum depression.

"I had experienced postpartum depression with both of my kids," she said. "The transition into becoming a parent is so life-changing, and it comes with changes in your mental health. It's an incredibly common thing."

While facing postpartum depression, Griffith found it difficult to find adequate assistance while navigating through the complexities of the healthcare system. When she learned of the fundraising opportunities possible through the Mongol Derby, she knew what cause she'd be riding for.

Griffith went through a lengthy application and interview process before being selected to ride in the 2021 Mongol Derby. Her ride was delayed by COVID-19, which postponed the 2020 and 2021 races.

By July 2022, Griffith was on a plane headed for Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar. After two and a half years, she was about to embark on the world's longest, toughest horse race.

Getting There And Being There

Griffith did everything she could to prepare herself for the intensity of the Mongol Derby before reaching Mongolia. She described it as "a roller coaster of emotions."

"The preparation was emotional," she said. "I went through waves of self-doubt, then confidence. I felt like I exhausted every single avenue and resource of training that I could have between riding, nutritional work, mental work and coaching. I would feel prepared, and then I would feel unprepared."

By July 23, Griffith was sitting on the first of many semi-feral Mongolian horses she'd be riding, ready to embark on the first day of the 10-day endurance race. She was one of 46 riders from 10 nations participating in 2022.

Griffith found encouragement and confidence in the excitement of the other equestrians.

"It was just it was exciting to be there," she said. "It was exciting to be among a group of like-minded people that had all opted in and paid good money to go on this crazy adventure. We'd all decided to put ourselves through this, and it was really fun."

Once all the riders had departed from the starting point, Griffith found self-assuredness in the vast emptiness of Mongolia, which she had spent years preparing for. And she couldn't have gained that confidence until she was there.

"I realized there was nothing left that I could have done to prepare," she said. "I did everything that I possibly could have."

Finding A Friend

Griffith's first day of the Mongol Derby was, in her own words, "terrible."

"I got stuck inside of a coal mine that had this huge trench I crossed into," she said. "It turned out to be circular, and I couldn't get out. So, I wasted an hour and a half riding around in a circle."

Griffith ended the first day as one of the last riders. She was careful to avoid any of the various time penalties riders can incur, for everything from riding outside of the allotted time each day to riding a horse too intensely that its heartbeat doesn't reduce to a certain level 30 minutes after the conclusion of a ride.

On the second day, Griffith rode and navigated her way to the front of the group. That's when she forged a fateful alliance with a fellow rider, Willemien Jooste of South Africa.

"I couldn't have found a better partner for this race," she said. "I hadn't necessarily planned on riding with anybody, but when we started riding together, we never quit. She's incredible."

Griffith and Jooste rode as a team for the rest of the race. As women with two kids at home and a rural upbringing, they related to each other's experiences and formed an effective team.

Mongol Derby riders change horses every 25 miles, riding 25 horses during the 10-day race. Griffith said Jooste was "very skilled" at picking horses with the best temperament for the journey.

"She has an incredible eye for horses," she said. "You pick the horses off a line, and she helped do a lot of our horse picking. We moved quickly through the transitions at the horse stations."

Finding Familiarity

As she rode with Jooste, Griffith felt right at home in the Mongolian landscape, almost indistinguishable from her home in Wyoming.

"Mongolia itself is a lot like southern Wyoming with its rolling hills and breaks, but it's covered with grass instead of sagebrush," she said. "The terrain is super similar. The temperature is very, very similar. The nights are chilly, but the days can be hot, and the weather blows through quickly. It was incredibly similar to Wyoming, which was a huge advantage for me."

Every Mongol rider navigates the rugged terrain between the stations using GPS, as there are no marked routes. Griffith and Jooste strategically planned their routes while ensuring their horses were not injured or overly fatigued by the plains, mountains and rivers they'd be crossing.

"I would say the most difficult part was trying to balance wanting to be competitive, and ride as quickly as you could, while trying to balance the health of the horses and the welfare of the horses," she said.

The horses of the Mongol Derby are described as "semi-feral," and Griffith prepared herself for a series of wild rides. However, she discovered that their overall temperament was "business-like" rather than feral.

"If you need to just get from Point A to Point B, and you stay out of their way, they were quite easy to get along with," she said. "I would say they've been ridden plenty, but they're not used to being handled that much. So, they're a little bit grumpy when you get on, and they might bolt or gallop off."

The challenge was adapted to each horse's temperament, savoring the good rides while enduring the difficult ones.

"You knew you had a limited amount of time with them," she said. "If they were great, you wanted more time with them. And if they were bad, you were glad you were able to hand them off."

Griffith and Jooste would ride as much as they could each day before settling down for the night. Rather than stay at one of the race's established stations, they often stayed with Mongolian families they encountered along the way.

"We had a lot of great nights while we raced," she said. "The Mongolian families we stayed with were completely unaffiliated with the race. We were coming into somebody's home, and they opened it to us, cooked for us, and helped take care of our horses. We had a lot of unique cultural experiences during the evenings."

Gaining The Lead

Griffith and Jooste spent most of their Mongol Derby ride right behind the leaders, riding and strategizing their way to the finishing line, hoping they might have a chance to take the lead.

"We knew we were second for days," Griffith said. "They were anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half ahead of us for four days."

Their moment came between Stations 26 and 27. With an option to take multiple routes to their next destination, Griffith said she and Jooste used trigonometry to their advantage.

"They went down the road and down the river," Griffith said. "We took the longer route through the mountains, but it was more direct. We cut off a lot of time."

When they reached Station 27, the leaders were already there. However, they had to wait out a two-hour penalty before continuing to Station 28, the final station before the finish line.

This was their chance. After passing the station's vet check, Griffith and Jooste set out into the 95-degree heat to finish the last leg of the derby.

Walking To A First Place Finish

When Griffith and Jooste reached Station 28, there were only two hours left to ride that day. They had to decide if they could navigate their way to the finish line, and safely and successfully reach it, before 7 p.m.

"We were stressed out now," Griffith said. "We knew we were in the front, and we had no idea how far behind anybody was. We were trying to figure out if we would make it."

They knew there was a two-minute penalty for every minute they rode past 7 p.m. If they wanted to keep their lead, they'd need to reach the finishing line without incurring a penalty that would erase any time they gained over their competitors.

Navigating the final stretch was especially difficult, but Griffith and Jooste stayed the course. They rode as quickly as they dared to avoid exhausting their horses.

Finally, they spotted the camp that marked the finish line. Rather than a dramatic spirit to finish the Mongol Derby, Griffith and Jooste decided on an "agonizing" walk to the end.

"You have to pass the same vet check at the finish line as every other place," she said. "There have been instances where people have lost their victory at the finish line because of a vet penalty. We wanted to make sure our horses came in healthy and under the heart rate, so we walked."

Griffith and Jooste crossed the finishing line at 6:52 p.m. on July 31. They had eight minutes to spare.

The riders they passed at Station 27 to take the lead crossed the finish line 35 minutes later, swallowing the time penalty to finish the race that night. It secured a joint victory for Griffith and Jooste in the 2022 Mongol Derby.

Griffith was exhilarated and exhausted from the 10-day endurance race, but her final surprise was at the finish line. Her husband, Vance, was waiting for her in the tent.

"That was very, very special," she said.

Providing For Parents

Throughout her arduous Mongol Derby experience, Griffith raised more than $100,000 for a charitable cause. Remembering the struggle that brought her to Mongolia, she embarked on a new endeavor to help others in Jackson.

The money was donated to the St. John's Health Foundation, a philanthropic organization associated with St. John's Health. The foundation created a program to train the hospital's obstetric nurses and lactation consultants on postpartum depression and set up a network for parents to navigate the condition.

"Every person that has a baby at this hospital is explicitly talked to about postpartum depression," Griffith said. "They're given materials to take home, and there's a phoneline that they can call, 24 hours a day, to be connected with a provider trained in postpartum depression."

Griffith remembers the difficulty of dealing with her postpartum depression. She hopes the program she helped establish at St. John's Health helps mothers and fathers find the assistance they need as they adjust to the realities of parenthood.

"When I had kids, it was hard to navigate," she said. "We were calling therapists and didn't know who to talk to. This is just a much easier way to help parents through a huge transition in their lives."

A Wyoming Legacy

The Mongol Derby was a life-changing experience for Griffith, and there is a lot to savor in her victory.

At 34 years old, Griffith was the second person from Wyoming to win the race. Wyomingite Bob Long won the 2019 Mongol Derby, the last one before the two-year pandemic pause.

Griffith and Long were also the first Americans to win back-to-back races, a first for any nation represented in the Mongol Derby.

Jooste, who was 38 at the time, has become a lifelong friend. Griffith is awaiting a visit from her companion this week.

"I think one of the biggest takeaways from the Mongol Derby was making a training plan, executing it, being disciplined and showing up for myself," she said. "That was the most incredible experience to watch the training evolve into the actual execution. It was really impactful."

While many riders are ambitious enough to attempt the Mongol Derby multiple times, Griffith isn’t one of them. It would be impossible to improve on a "perfect" experience.

"We had such a great time. I don't know if I would jeopardize the experience that I had with another one," she said. "I don't think anything could ever surpass the experience I had. It was perfect in all the ways."

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.