Thursday, 02 August 2012
Ryan sets Fish River Canyon Record

Desert Running King - Ryan Sandes - whipped up a dust storm to set a record in this arduous challenge.

Ryan Sandes has finally overcome his nemesis – The Fish River Canyon – today when he smashed the previous record for the Fish Fiver Canyon Trail run by just short of 4hrs. Ryan’s official time was 6hrs57min and the previous record, set in 2003 by 3 Namibian locals Russell Paschke, Charlie du Toit and Coenraad Pool, was 10hrs 54min.

Comment from Ryan – I started from Hikers Descent this morning just as the sun was rising. Conditions were perfect and the first few hours were insane – just that canyon and I. The running was slow with soft sand and lots of boulder hopping but the main thing was that I was feeling good. The second half of the canyon opened up and got a lot hotter – I hit one or two low patches which seemed to pass quite quickly and before I knew it I was climbing the stairs to the finish at Ais Ais.