Garrin Lambley

Cape Town - South Africa's Ryan Sandes has confirmed his status as the world's premier long distance runner with victory in the Atacama Crossing in Chile.

Sandes overall time for the six-day event was 23:58:39 - a staggering five hours and 44 minutes ahead of the second place finisher.
 
The Atacama Crossing is part of the "4 Deserts" which was named by TIME magazine as No 2 on its list of the Top 10 Endurance Competitions in the world.

Thirty-four countries were represented in the event with competitors coming from six continents.

The Atacama Crossing is the first of four desert crossings to be held in 2010.

The second race will be competitors cross the Gobi Desert in China (June 27), followed by the Sahara Race in Egypt (October 3) with the final leg - The Last Desert in Antarctica - scheduled for November 17.

Sandes, 28, who was educated at SACS in Cape Town, is a previous winner of both the Gobi and Sahara races.

Only two competitors have ever completed the "4 Deserts" in one year: Paul Liebenberg of South Africa and Dean Karnazes of the United States, both in 2008.

The Atacama Desert is 15 million years old and has the most lunar-like landscape on Earth and is frequently used by NASA to test its Mars rover vehicles.

Click HERE for Ryan Sandes's official website


Winner in Chile (File)