Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s all or nothing for Sandes
A last-minute marathon set a once ‘pretty crazy party animal’ on his journey
Sports writer LIAM MOSES chats to endurance runner Ryan Sandes
When I went to Sub A, it was all about rugby and cricket. I really wanted to be a rugby player, but unfortunately I wasn’t big enough. And then in my latter school years and at university, I did quite a bit of surfing. I’ve always been active, but I never thought running was for me until the last year at university in 2006. What position did you play? I played flank for the SACS first team. For most of standard eight, nine and 10, I was always trying to put on weight because I’m not naturally very big. I was about 75kg then, and now I’m about 68kg. I was a bit heavier when playing rugby. everything into it and before I knew it, I was running ultra marathons.
When I ran my first ultra marathon in 2008, the Gobi Desert March, I think it was just an excuse to travel somewhere crazy and different. When I first entered I didn’t even really know where the Gobi Desert was. That went really well and, to my surprise, I won that. I didn’t expect to do that and that is where the doors and opportunities opened for me. What was it about that first marathon that got you hooked? I think it was the feeling of fulfillment. I suppose it becomes a bit like a drug. Like “I’ve ied, steep inclines and steep declines and crazy weather conditions, it’s much more exciting and unpredictable. Your book says you were a “rudderless party animal” before you began running. What were you like? Through my late school years and university years, I was known as a pretty crazy party animal. I did some wild things with mates. When I speak to mates who I was at school with they asked where this came from, and how I became an ultra trail runner. It was definitely a complete shift, but for me I still see similarities in it.
I think I went through a phase were I was passionate about partying, and then I transitioned into this phase where I’m passionate about running. They are at different ends of the spectrum, but I see similarities to how I approached them. What is the wildest thing you ever did? We were pretty reckless. In the book I talk about how the guys I race against now were running track and field during university and I was probably running over cars or stupid stuff like that. I’m not overly proud of what I did, but it’s who I am and I will never hide away from the fact that I was crazy. Someone above was definitely looking after me. I definitely took some crazy chances, but I also made some good friends through it. What ultra running experience did you have when you entered that first Gobi March? Zero. I had run two marathons and two trail races of like 35km each on Table Mountain. I did a lot of research and I got a coach on board.
I trained really hard for the race. I think that initial training was some of the hardest training I have ever done in my life. I wasn’t used to it and I had to get my body to adapt to it. It was pretty brutal. I remember
“I see running as a sport, but at the same it has become more of a lifestyle. I think one day I will stop competing, but I will never stop running.”
just collapsing and laying on my back on Table Mountain one day thinking “I just can’t do this anymore”, then getting back and walking and trying to run again and keep going. I was working as a quantity surveyor at the time. It was pretty surreal running a crazy race in the desert, and then going back to corporate life the next week. How did you go on to win that race despite your lack of experience? I started really conservatively, and when I got to the last aid station during the first stage they told me I was second. I was shocked, and then the competitive side of me kicked in and I decided that I was going to try and win the stage no matter what. I just gave it my all and ended up winning the stage.
I was completely broken afterwards, but very elated and emotional. I think after I won the second stage I realised that I could actually possibly win. My confidence was just so high. I definitely ran out of my skin.
During the longest stage, the 80km stage on day five, I just about collapsed and I remember just telling myself to keep going. I was getting dizzy, I was dehydrating, I was overheating because I had just pushed myself too hard. I just went into this crazy mindset that I was going to do whatever I could to
win, even if I died out there. What is it like running in desert conditions? The Sahara was one of the most surreal experiences ever. You’re running in this desert and all you can see is white sand as far as you can look all the way out to the horizon.
You’re just following these pink marker flags and there is no one around you. You’re running like that in 45-degree plus temperatures. It’s crazy hot. It feels like someone has a bag over your head because it’s like you’re almost suffocating. It’s a very surreal and isolated sport some of the time. How often do you train? I picked up glandular fever last year and it was a rough year for me. In 2014, I would say that I was just training too much. It’s a big problem in ultra running; burn-out syndrome. A lot of guys are really good for two years, and then they just burn out. I think to do an endurance sport you have to be quite headstrong, and a lot of the guys really push themselves. There is a fine line between pushing yourself hard and pushing yourself right over the edge. So I have definitely backed off on my training this year and it’s working.
I’ve been in the sport for eight years now so I know my body better. Currently I do about from 15-20 hours of running per week, and some weeks up to 30 hours. I generally do about two long runs per week, of about eight hours each, and then some shorter runs of between one and two hours.
I also do about three or four strength, conditioning, stretching and mobility sessions at gym. I think that’s very important for staying injury free. How long were you out of with glandular fever? 2014 was a crazy year for me. I went to the Trans Grand Canaria, a very difficult 125km, 14-hour race through the night, and I won that. It was one of the most difficult races you can run. Then I came back and crossed the Drakensberg Mountains in the fastest known time. It was 210km of mountaineering so it was another 40 hours.
Then, three weeks later, I ran a 100-miler around Mount Fuji and that completely smashed my system. I was doing really well on the Ultra Trail-World Tour so I went and did the Western States Endurance Run and then I did another 250km race in Madagascar in August. It was the best years of my life performance-wise but it completely wrecked me.
I probably didn’t have enough respect with my body and I wasn’t in tune with my body. I think it happens to a lot of guys. I also got married that year and I remember being on honeymoon and I was too tired to walk to lunch. Then in December I was diagnosed with glandular fever. I thought I would just have to back off for three months and it would be fine. My blood actually showed that I had it before, but I didn’t pick it up.
I got to March 2015 and I started training again. I was feeling a lot better, but in hindsight I wasn’t really right. It’s only been about three weeks since I really started feeling good again. From August last year I just took a long break and picked it up in December.
It was also quite taxing on me mentally, so I had to rebuild my love for running. So I got back to my roots of where I started. I wasn’t following a training programme at all. I would just go for a run when I felt like running, whether it was for a few hours or 15 minutes. When I felt like hiking I would just hike. I think because being mentally strong plays such a huge role in what I do, I almost had to switch myself back on mentally. Do you have a goal in mind for the current season? I will definitely do less races going forward and just focus on a couple of key ones and not overdo it. I have a 100km race called the Ultra-Trail Australia in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales in May. My big goal for the year is the UltraTrail Mont Blanc in August. I will kind of see how things are after that.
I’m also looking at doing a project in the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda early next year so I’m doing some planning for that. It will probably be another fastest-known time attempt. It’s awesome to run races but they are quite predictable in some ways. There is a start and a finish and you know where the aid stations are. Traversing the Rwenzori Mountains has so many unknowns and no has done it before. It’s great to do things outside the norms of racing. What is your greatest achievement? I would say the first Gobi March was the most memorable. If I hadn’t won that, I wouldn’t be here right now. It was also just so unexpected and surreal. Winning the Leadville 100 Mile Trail Run was also quite memorable. That was one of my first 100mile races and it’s a very iconic race. Winning the Four Deserts Series and winning an ultra trail race on every continent was also cool. Looking back, running the Sky Run in the Drakensberg in 2012 and having Vanessa, my wife, and Thandi, our four-legged child, there was also special. Why is your nickname “Hedgie”? I used to have longer hair when I was at school and when I cut it in standard seven it went super spikey, and one of my mates joked that I looked like a hedgehog. Then because I didn’t like the name, obviously all my mates started calling me that. At university a lot of my friends only knew me as Hedgie. They didn’t know my real name was Ryan.