Yak to Yak Champs

Wait, what?

The Mongol Rally is an annual event involving hundreds of teams driving tiny vehicles from the U.K. to Mongolia– more than a third of the way around the planet — to raise money for a variety of good causes. It’s not a race, and there aren’t any winners or losers per se. Rather, the goal is to simply make it in your car to the finish line and see a large, beautiful chunk of the world along the way!

The Rules

The rules of the Mongol rally are simple. 1. You must take a ridiculously underpowered car – a maximum 1.2L engine – the older the better. 2. You’re completely on your own. There’s a start and finish line, but how you get there is completely up to you. What happens if you break down in rural Kazakhstan? Figure it out. 3. You must raise at least 1000 British pounds for charity.

The Charity

Our team is required to pick one charity of our choice and raise at least $500, as well as raising $500 for Cool Earth Foundation – the official charity of the rally. Cool Earth works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction, as well as buliding schools and clinics to help villages stay active in the fight to protect their home. We need your help to make a difference!

The car

Doesn’t matter what, just has to be 1200cc or less. To put that into perspective I’ve owned a Kawasaki motorcycle with a bigger engine. While prevalent with our friends across the pond, you can probably count on 1 hand how many US cars are that under-powered. Now add 3 full sized men and 70 whopping horsepower becomes even more comical. Stay tuned to see what we come up with!

The Route!

“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.”

The rally starts in London, and the finish line is in Ulan-Ude Russia. Since we’re on our own there is no set route. And since it’s not a race, we can take our time to enjoy the scenery and some of see all the unique things we feel like along the way. One thing is for sure, it’s not an easy journey. Over the course of 4-6 weeks we’ll be driving across more than a third of the earth. The route will cover 10,000+ miles across 15+ countries. Mountains, deserts, and rivers will have to be traversed. Of course the most difficult part of the trip is Mongolia, where for a majority of the drive THERE. ARE. NO. ROADS. The remote and vast plains can be quite unforgiving. It is where many a rally team have abandoned their car. But hey, it’s not supposed to be easy. We’re pretty sure we’ll make it. Pretty sure…

Learn more

Meet the team

Chris Ivanovskis

Proud Texan, business owner, hates wearing shoes. Chris heard about the rally 7 years ago and has been plotting to go ever since. He lives to travel, and travels to, well…see places that aren’t where he currently is. So naturally the rally sounds awesome. And while Uzbekistan isn’t really high on the list of any traveler, how many people do you know that can begin a story by saying “so this one time when I was in Uzbekistan…”

Ryan Goodman

A lifelong Oklahoman, Goodman is a 30 year bartending wizard that lives in Oklahoma City. Like many of us he feels like he hasn’t lived life to the fullest, but unlike many of us he’s decided to do something about it by going on a ridiculous and epic adventure. Thankfully alcohol is a universal language, so he might be able to talk us out of (or into) hairy situations by saying Vodka! over and over.

Mitchell Walker

Hailing from Oklahoma, he is an avid adventurer, drug-dealer (legally) and over all fun-guy. The oldest of the group coming in at 34. As an Army veteran, he is bringing with him a wealth of useless vehicle mechanic knowledge. Similarly an aspiring Buddhist; peace, harmony and party is driving him to Rally the Race!