Ryan Sandes

Career

11 competitors have managed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam, that is, completing the four trails in a calendar year (from 1 January to 31 December of the same year). In 2010, Time magazine included the 4 Deserts Challenge on a list of the ten most demanding endurance races in the world. In August 2012, Sandes bettered Russell Pasche"s record for the 90K Fish River Canyon hiking trail from 10:54 to 6:57.

After winning, Sandes was temporarily disqualified after a misunderstanding relating to his failing to produce the mandatory emergency blanket from his kit at the finish.

Sandes attended the South African College Schools (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) where he took part in cricket, rugby and water polo. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction and later an Honours in Quantity Surveying at the University of Cape Town.

In addition to trail running, he is an active mountain biker, paddler and surfer.

Achievements

• In 2010 he became the first competitor to have won all four of the 4 Deserts races, each a 6/7-day, 250-kilometer (160 mi) self-supported footrace through the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Gobi Desert in China, the Sahara Desert in Egypt, and lastly Antarctica. His achievement prompted Mary Gadams, founder and Chief Executive Officer of RacingThePlanet and organiser of the event, to state “Ryan Sandes is clearly one of the top endurance athletes in the world - to have won all 4 Deserts is a remarkable accomplishment.” To date only 81 individuals have completed all four trails. Sandes was winner of the Sahara Race in 2008, the Gobi March in 2008, second in 2009 RacingThePlanet Namibia, and winner of the Jungle Ultra Marathon in Floresta Nacional do Tapajós in Pará, Brazil, setting a new course record. Sandes won the 2011 Leadville Trail 100 in a time of 16:46:54, more than half an hour ahead of runner-up Dylan Bowman. He won the 2012 North Face 100 in Australia in a time of 9:22:45, and had placed 3rd in 2011. Sandes won the second race in the Ultra-Trail World Series Tour, The North Face Transgrancanaria, on March 1, 2014. Sandes appealed the disqualification and was subsequently reinstated as the winner.