This summer, Olly Wright found himself sitting in a 1989 VW Polo in Hyde Park, waiting for the starting horn to begin his expedition across two thirds of the world’s circumference in the Mongol Rally. The first year St Edmund’s Hall medic spent the next twenty three days driving across Europe through Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia before embarking upon a treacherous six day crossing of Mongolia to the finish line in Ulan Batur.
Wright and two friends raised £1,500 for Mercy Corps Mongolia and Hope and Homes for Children before their departure to qualify their entry on the rally. Using the true skills of a resourceful student Wright procured £200 sponsorship from ‘Tractorland’ in exchange for allowing a model of Tractor Ted to accompany him on his expedition, promising to photograph him throughout. Wright also got given the beige 1989 VW Polo (affectionately named Gordon) by Jection Garage, and was so ready for the Mongol Rally.
“Out of all the countries we visited, Iran was the place I’d like to back to above all,” Wright said. “It was nothing like we’d expected. We were invited in to strangers’ houses for supper-everybody there was so friendly” he added.
Beside the overwhelming kindness from so many people though, the trip did not go without hitches. “We were let in to Turkmenistan, but then were locked in ‘no-man’s-land’ for twenty four hours” Wright said. “My friend also got his guitar confiscated at the border crossing in Azerbaijan, which was pretty upsetting, but we got it back eventually.”
Equally the car itself did not quite manage the trip without problems. “It was crossing Mongolia that Gordon really began to suffer,” Wright reminisces with a distinct glint in his eye. “The exhaust fell off, and we drove over a rock that punctured our fuel tank, though it’s amazing what you can do with duct tape and a bar of soap” he says.
Having made it to Ulan Batur, Wright caught the Trans Siberian back home. “It wasn’t until we got back to England that it really sunk in that we’d actually made it,” he says. “When I arrived in Ulan Batur itself, there was no massive rush of relief-I just don’t think that we could really believe it.”
Having survived all the drama of the summer, Wright said that the overwhelming greatness of the trip was how it brought friends together. “We’ve all already joined climbing clubs, and have set our sights on Everest in three year’s time. Otherwise we’re thinking about cycling across America, or maybe China.” It seems that having survived the Mongol Rally, the world is Wright’s oyster.
