Ryan "Hedgie" Nicholas Sandes (born 10 March 1982 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

) is a South African trail runner. In 2010 he became the first competitor to have won all four of the

4 Deserts The 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Series is an annual series of four 250-kilometer (155-mile) races across deserts around the globe. The races were recognized as the world's leading endurance footrace series by ''TIME'' magazine in 2009 and 2010, as th ...

races.

Personal life

Sandes attended the

South African College Schools The South African College Schools (colloquially often known as “SACS”) is a public English medium primary and high education institution situated in Newlands – part of the Southern Suburbs region of Cape Town in the Western Cape provinc ...

(S.A.C.S.) where he took part in cricket, rugby and water polo. He was awarded a BSc degree in Construction and later an Honours in

Quantity Surveying In the construction industry, a quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional with expert knowledge of construction costs and contracting. Qualified professional quantity surveyors can be known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in ...

at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

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

Running career

In 2008, Sandes won the Sahara Race and the Gobi March. In 2009 he placed second in RacingThePlanet

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, and won the Jungle Ultra Marathon in Floresta Nacional do Tapajós in Pará, Brazil, setting a new course record. In 2010 he set a record time for the 4Peaks Mountain Challenge. Also in 2010, Sandes became the first competitor to have won all four of the

races, each a 6/7-day, self-supported footrace: through the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and lastly through

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. This achievement prompted Mary Gadams, founder and CEO of

RacingThePlanet RacingThePlanet (RTP) is an organizer of off-trail and rough-country endurance foot-races, including the 4 Deserts. The company also operates an outdoor products store and a dried foods company. The 2011 Kimberley Ultramarathon was the subjec ...

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.”'' At the time, only 81 individuals had completed all four trails, and 11 competitors had done them in the same calendar year. In 2010, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine included the 4 Deserts Challenge on a list of the ten most demanding endurance races in the world. 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. In August 2012, he bettered Russell Pasche's record for the 90K Fish River Canyon hiking trail from 10:54 to 6:57. In 2014, he won the second race in the Ultra-Trail World Series Tour, the Transgrancanaria. In 2017, he won the

Western States Endurance Run The Western States Endurance Run, known commonly as the Western States 100 or Western States, is a 100.2-mile (161 km) ultramarathon that takes place on California's Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada Mountains trails each year on the last ...

, in 16 hours 19 minutes 37 seconds.

Pair running

In 2014, Sandes and Ryno Griesel set a fastest known time (FKT) on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse (DGT), an unmarked and self-navigated route across the main Drakensberg escarpment between South Africa and Lesotho, covering 200km of distance and 9000m of elevation gain. In 2018, they set a new FKT for the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT), running 1,504 km in 24 days 4 hours and 24 minutes.

References

External links

Ryan Sandes homepage2010 interviewThe Beauty of the Irrational - Racing through the Fish River Canyon in NamibiaTravailen - Official Trailer - "Travailen" follows Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel's on their attempt of the Drakensberg Grand Traverse (DGT)

''Drakensberg Grand traverse stats''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandes, Ryan 1982 births South African ultramarathon runners Male ultramarathon runners Living people Alumni of South African College Schools University of Cape Town alumni 21st-century South African sportsmen

Personal life

Running career

Pair running

See also

References

External links