An extreme distance jockey from Wyoming was left to live alone in Mongolia after race organizers “didn’t give a damn” what happened to her when she became too ill to take part in the 620-mile trek across the East Asian country.
Dede Anders, 49, was a last-minute sign-up for the Mongol Derby and arrived in Mongolia on Aug. 1 after race organizers contacted her last month about another competitor dropping out, she told Cowboy State Daily.
From the country’s capital Ulaanbaatar, Anders made an eight-hour journey to the race start point and was ready for the long drive across the Mongolian steppe.
The race – which bills itself as the toughest horse race in the world – recreates the horse-drawn courier system developed by Genghis Khan in 1224, according to the Mongolian Derby website.
However, on Monday, two days before the scheduled start of the race, she became seriously ill.
“It’s a lot of gastrointestinal issues,” Anders told the outlet. “I was throwing up and stuff like that.”
The race — which normally takes 10 days as riders navigate difficult terrain and spend an average of about 13 hours a day in the saddle — was no longer an option given her condition.
Even worse, when Anders sought medical attention at base camp, she was shocked by the lack of empathy and care shown by the race’s medical staff toward one of the registered participants.
“Two doctors examined me. They told me I didn’t need anything, but they didn’t do anything for me. They told me to ride it out,” the lifelong horse racer told the outlet.
Anders, a U.S. Army medic with a doctorate in medical sciences and emergency medicine from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, was astonished that a race that supposedly had “an international team of extremely experienced medics” helped her so little.
“None of the paramedics even touched me or asked me any questions,” she told the outlet.
“The other one took my pulse for a few seconds. They didn’t take my vitals, nor did they ask me if I was diabetic or what medications I was taking. They just told me it would be over in 24 hours.”
Anders then met with Mongol Derby race director Katherine to inform her that she would not be taking part in the race due to her medical condition.
“Katherine came to my yurt and spoke to me at least twice,” Anders said. “I told her both days that I was sick.”
During this time, she says she received no medical care at the race, but was instead driven back to the capital of Mongolia, where a driver dropped her off at a hotel.
“They put me in a car for eight hours while I was sick with a gastrointestinal virus, with a driver who barely spoke English,” Anders told the outlet.
“I had to book a hotel from base camp through Expedia, have the driver stop in town and collect my passport so I could finally check into the hotel.”
She claims that the only help the Derby organisers gave her during her illness was to “dum her” in the capital.
“I was too sick to ride 620 miles on a horse,” Anders said. “But I was also too sick to sit in a car for eight hours and be deported to a city without a passport or a flight home.”
Now alone and still battling her illness abroad, Anders’ problems continued as she tried to find a flight back to the United States.
“I had to call home and ask my boyfriend to book a flight for me because I had no cell reception,” she said. “Seattle is the next best thing I could get to. I just want to get back to the U.S..”
The experienced rider was unable to find a flight back to the United States until August 11 and will have to make other travel arrangements to return to Wyoming after landing in Seattle.
While she waits to return home, Anders said she has emailed race organizers describing her feelings about the way she was treated but has “received no response.”
“I paid about $30,000 for the ride,” the driver said. “My participation fee alone was almost $17,000, and I didn’t even have my blood pressure checked when I was sick.”
Before the drama, Anders told Cody Enterprise that she was making “payments of about $900 a month” to cover the costs of the race, which she once considered a “lifelong dream.”
Not being able to take part in the Mongol Derby, which she described as “quite chaotic” and “not very well organised”, is the least of her worries given the indifference of the race’s medical staff during her illness.
“I work in the emergency room and have a doctorate in emergency medicine,” she told the outlet.
“You couldn’t even hit a medic with your gun there. I don’t know what caused the delay, but I was definitely blown away for some reason.”
