Western States 100 Mile & the Great Himalayan Trail – Ryan Sandes

Ultrarunner Magazine was treated to an interview with the incredible South African trail-running sensation, Ryan Sandes. During his 14-year running career, Ryan has completed and defeated some of the toughest ultramarathon’s on earth! In 2010, he became the first competitor to win all four ‘Racing the Planet’ desert races before going on to become the first person ever to win an Ultra-Trail race, on all seven continents!

Discussing family life and the impact of the global pandemic, Ryan went over some of his biggest challenges to date, including winning the Western States 100 miler in 2017 and setting a Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Great Himalayan Trail.

… “Growing up, I spent most of my time interacting with the ocean. I filled every spare moment I could near the water, paddling into waves, gliding the tides on my surfboard. It was never an objective as a kid to become an ultra-distance trail runner, but living on the back slopes of Table Mountain, in South Africa, it was not long before I started to explore the trails. I began to compete in some local races and not long after, I am in the Gobi Desert doing my first ultra-marathon. Before I knew it, I was a professional runner, living my dreams, travelling the world and running all over.

“The ocean and the trails are similar in that both offer the same freedom’s, a chance to slip into escapism. The direct contact with nature, be that running up a mountain or submerged in the water, is almost a coping mechanism for many people. The modern world and our ever-advancing technologies force society to move so fast. The phone is always going off and people have their expectations of you, running alone through the forests or fells can be almost meditative and a chance to let go of it all for a little while.”

In 2016 my wife Vanessa and I became parents to our son, Max. I used to think that everything was about racing, I suppose it was. My entire life revolved around it, but having Max drove my priorities to shift, realising as a father that there was so much more to life. Sure, doing well in a race is awesome but Max won’t care about how successful I was, what he will care about is whether I was a good father or not. Becoming a parent matured me and being a good father to Max and a good husband to Vanessa, that is my priority, racing comes after that.

I’m fairly chilled out and laid back and try not to overthink things too much. Ultra-distance running is not a sport you have much control over. You can train and plan and spend months preparing but the variables are too great. There is always room for things to go wrong, and they often do during live challenges. A good skill for success is the ability to adapt. Over-panicking, stressing and worrying will not do you much good. I try to keep my mind easy and follow intuition, break down challenges into small chunks. Not thinking of a race in terms of it’s entirety, rather, bite-sized goals: 40k to 40k, this point to that point, tree to tree, whatever feels manageable at the time to get through.

I am fourteen years into my running career and longevity has been the key for me. The ability to take a break if you need one is really important. If you look at other guys who have been running professionally for a long time, it is often that skill that helped them to maintain the level. It is not easy for anyone to switch off and switch on again when needed, but that is a useful trait to have as an ultrarunner.