Finish line close for Mongol Derby rider

Marahau-based kindergarten teacher Marie Palzer is just a few days off finishing her Mongol Derby adventure, possibly in the top 10 riders.

The Adventurists’ Mongol Derby has been described as the world’s longest and toughest horse race.

Palzer has already galloped through over 800km of the 1000km-long race.

When the starting gun sounded on August 9, she was alongside 40 others as they retraced the path of 12th century military Genghis Khan.

By yesterday afternoon Palzer, pictured, was close to the settlement of Dundburb, and according to the online tracking system was less than 200km from the finish line.

Palzer appeared to be bunched with four other riders as she chased down the front runners before the race cut-off time on Friday. leader

The current race leader was South Africa’s Jakkie Mellet, who had travelled 926.11km, about 104km ahead of Palzer.

Palzer was taking part in the event with one other New Zealander, Rotorua’s Jennifer Cook, who had clocked over 713km by yesterday.

Before Palzer left for Mongolia, she said there was no pressure on her to win the race, but ‘‘obviously I want to do well’’.

She trained for months before the start of the event, running up to 20km a day and teaching her stomach to cope with fermented foods.