Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 14

Nieuwpoort

London

AD V ENTU R E

The Mongolia Charity Rally
An epic adventure in
the Subaru XV Crosstrek

Paris

by C ynthia Rose
Photography by Jess Watt

The duo behind Team Offtrax would soon discover that the

like Mongolia, there is a very real lack of EMS vehicles; in some

Mongolia Charity Rally is an epic, 16,000-km, cross-continental

remote parts of the country, the situation is so dire, there are

road trip for charity, More than that, it’s an adventure that sees

accounts of patients waiting days for medical assistance.

teams hammering through mountain

So what began as a charity ambulance

ranges, deserts, and more barren and

run from the United Kingdom to

inhospitable lands than in your average

Mongolia developed organically into

Peter Jackson film.

the Mongolia Charity Rally of today.

The start line is in London, the finish

The event has now expanded to include

line is in Ulaanbaatar, the ancient capital

hundreds of teams driving all kinds of

city of Mongolia. The Mongolia Charity

needed vehicles such as fire engines,

Rally is the brainchild of Go Help, a UK-

school buses, 4x4s and wheelchair

based adventure charity organization.

accessible vehicles.

For several years now, Go Help has
developed charity rallies in which teams
of volunteers fundraise and make an

Now: back to our dynamic duo from
Stopping by the Subaru dealership in Freiburg, Germany

Canada. Learning about this exciting,
once-in-a-lifetime adventure, they were

adventure out of bringing primary resources, like ambulances,

intrigued. Digging deeper, they discovered that the adventure was

to places in need, such as Mongolia.

chockfull of potential danger, unmapped roads and technically

Here in Canada, it’s safe to assume that a call for an

inaccessible desert terrain. But in 2013, this same pair raised

ambulance would actually result in one arriving. But in places

thousands of dollars for FRANK Water, a safe, clean water

12 six star magazine

Main image: Navigating the muddy terrain of Western Mongolia