Schnebeli is from Vlissingen but has been living in Australia for about ten years now. “When I lived in the Netherlands, I always watched the Derby. People around me often said: ‘That race is too much for you’ interview. I never expected that.”

Participants cover a thousand kilometers across the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe in nine days. De Vlissingen mainly participates to challenge himself a bit. “I want to test myself. One day, when I’m older, I want to look back at a life where I tried all kinds of things. I don’t want to regret the things I did. No.”

Even though the race is in Mongolia and Schnebeli has lived on the other side of the world for a while, she likes to show where she’s from during the race. “Not Luctor et Emergo, that fits such a race.” As a further reminder of this when traveling, the woman from Vlissingen likes to embroider her shirt and bag with the Zeeland flag or Zeeland slogans.

“I put out a call for it on Facebook and was actually expecting three responses. Now I’ve woken up this morning and the call has completely blown up. It’s great to have everyone from Zeeland thinking together, it makes me feel good.”