Ryan Sandes On Fish River

Ryan Sandes has finally overcome his nemesis – The Fish River Canyon – 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.

This was a dream come true for me, made possible by my sponsors and a number of other people – thanks guys!! Feet up now and we have one day to relax before heading back to Cape Town on Friday morning.

The African Attachment were up here shooting the attempt – the chopper footage looks epic, so watch out for the video later next week or early the following week.

Photographer, Craig Kolesky, was also up here shooting stills which will be out later Friday or on the weekend. I am super stoked to have finally been able to run the Fish River Canyon, and defeat it.