Every July 10th/11th Mongolians celebrate Naadam, a Mongolian Olympics of sorts.  Naadam is a celebration of the 3 “manly” sports and the military traditions they represent: archery, horseback racing, and wrestling. Tom, Jean and I were joined by some friends out in Redmond’s Farrel McWhirter park last Sunday to check out the competition.  When we were originally planning our trip to Mongolia I was really looking forward to Naadam, but the rally schedule obviously has us leaving after it’s over, so it was a treat to experience the event at home before we depart.

We didn’t see any archery or horseback racing… but we think Muugi’s son pictured above is just about old enough to be a champion racer.  Seriously, little kids just a little older than he is do compete in horse racing… and win.  Just ask our friend Urtaa, he was a champion racer at 5 years old! It was great to see Muugi and Urtaa one last time before Tom and I fly off to London (tomorrow!!).