From Kings Cross underbelly to the trail of Genghis Khan

THIS week Wendy Chambers packed for an adventure far beyond the realms of most. In a few days she starts a 1000-kilometre horse race across Mongolia.

A well-thumbed copy of Lonely Planet Mongolia sits on her couch in her remote Gippsland home. She already has six stitches in her head from falling off her horse, Chelsea, last week and that was just the training.

Her packing is minimalist. One carry-all bag for the flights and a tiny backpack inside it for the horse race, called the Mongol Derby. Riders retrace the route of Genghis Khan and can only carry five kilograms so she has one set of survivalist clothes, as well as lots of vitamins and medicines because the race, dubbed the ''most gruelling in the world'', has only basic support crews for the riders.

Chambers, 46, was a policewoman in Kings Cross in the mid-90s doing uniformed and undercover drugs work. She appeared before the Wood royal commission into police corruption where she was linked to nightclub tsar John Ibrahim, a claim later used in an Underbelly book and TV series.
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Chambers successfully sued the publisher, producer and network for defamation, under her previous surname of Hatfield, claiming she knew Ibrahim but was never his lover. She may also sue the NSW Police Integrity Commission. She received large payouts, money she is now spending to pursue her dreams of self-betterment and self-help.

On the Mongol Derby, riders sleep in Mongolian villages in ger, which are like yurts. There are no stables or showers. The riders change horses every 40 kilometres at pit-stops.

''I'm not a princess,'' says Chambers. ''Which is lucky considering what I'm about to do. Am I crazy?''

She's ridden plenty of endurance races before - in the Middle East and Queensland - but never anything like this.

Chambers worked for a time in the King of Jordan's royal stables. She breeds Arabian horses on her lush property. She has also worked as a diver for the oil and gas rigs off Gippsland. Plus that ill-fated stint as a policewoman in Kings Cross. She still plays down suggestions she has had an ''interesting'' life.

Mongol Derby riders carry a GPS device with a rough course plotted. There is no track. They can call for emergency help if they need it, but no Australian insurance companies would cover her.

Chambers's aim is to ride 160 kilometres a day, through four horse changes, to finish in a week. The $11,000 entry fee is given to a charity which distributes the money to the villagers. One other Australian, a vet from Cobden, Victoria, Campbell Costello, is also competing. Chambers wants to be the first woman and the first Australian to win it.

''I had to battle hard for three years in court, a little person against corporate giants. They thought I had no chance but I won. This race is the same. It's about me trying to do my best.''

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