South African ultra-runner and Suunto Ambassador Ryan Sandes has won the Atacama Desert Crossing in Chile in tremendous style, finishing first in each of the event’s six stages and being the only runner with a total race time of under 24 hours.
The t6c Red Arrow user covered the 250km footrace – part of the Racing the Planet series - in 23hr 58min 39sec, a massive 5hr 44min ahead of second-placed Eric LaHaie (USA).
From the get-go Sandes was in control of the Crossing, which ran from March 7-13, finishing stage one 28min ahead of LaHaie. By the end of stage three, the day of his 28th birthday, Sandes had an overall lead of nearly two hours.
Stage five was undoubtedly the toughest. Held over a 76km course which took in salt flats, dirt roads and an ascent of a steep sand dune, many competitors struggled in the heat.
Sandes excelled however, crossing the line in 6hr 57min in what was thought to be a course record.
“At the halfway point I got a stupid idea that sub-7 hours was doable,“ he said. “I think the previous record was about 8 hours something. So I put my ears down and went for it.”
For the 10km-long stage six, Sandes needed to run under 42min to complete the Atacama Crossing in under 24hrs, a challenge he duly rose to.
“I knew I had to go as hard as I could from the start. There were a couple of really steep climbs to start off with and I was behind target pace but then the course headed onto a gravel road and I could up the tempo.
“I kept looking at my (t6c) to check the time - was I going to make it?
Make it he did, sprinting across the line in 41min 21sec, setting a new standard for the Crossing in the process.
“The last week was an awesome experience. The Atacama Desert is one of the most beautiful places I have run in but the conditions were brutal!
“The hard training seemed to pay off and I am super stoked with the way things have gone.“
It’s not the first time Sandes has clean-swept a Racing the Planet event. In 2008 he won every stage of the Gobi and Sahara Desert races.
Images by RacingThePlanet Ltd