An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of 31 miles (50 km) and up to 3100 miles. World Championships are held by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) for 50 km, 100 km, 24 hours, and ultra trail running. The Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners (GOMU) holds World Championships for 48 hours and 6 days. World Records are ratified and recognized by World Athletics, the IAU, and by GOMU.
Marathon des Sables, or MdS, is a seven-day, about 250 km (160 mi) ultramarathon, which is approximately the distance of six regular marathons. The longest single stage (2009) was 91 km (57 mi) long.
Mauro Prosperi is an Italian former police officer and pentathlete, most notable for his nine-day disappearance and survival in the Sahara, whilst competing in the 1994 Marathon des Sables in Morocco.
Multiday races are ultramarathon running events which are typically either segmented into daily events of a specified distance or time, or staged so that runners can run as far as they want, at their own discretion, over a set course or over a set number of days. Multiday races can range from continuous 48-hour track events to staged transcontinental treks.
Mohamad Ahansal is a Moroccan ultramarathon runner best known for his 5 wins of the Marathon des Sables and has taken part in it 19 times. His first victory in this race came in 1995. His brother Lahcen has won the race 10 times. He first started running at the age of 17. He was born to a nomadic family near Zagora in the Sahara desert.
Kevin Lin is a Taiwanese ultramarathon runner from Taipei and politician who served as the vice chairperson of the Cultural Communication Commission of the Kuomintang.
Nikki Kimball is an American distance runner specializing in the Ultramarathon. She ran her first 100-mile race at the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in 2004, and was the female winner. She was the winning female at Western States again in 2006 and 2007, becoming only the third woman to win Western States three times. In 2014, she won the Marathon Des Sables multi-stage endurance race on her first attempt. Prior to running, her main sport was cross-country skiing. She was crewed at the 2007 Western States by U.S. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, where Kimball lives. She lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Terri Schneider is an endurance athlete, motivational speaker, author, coach, and consultant. In 1990, she won the Escape from Alcatraz and took third place at the 1990 Ironman World Championship.
RacingThePlanet (RTP) is an organizer of off-trail and rough-country endurance foot-races, including the 4 Deserts. The company also operates an outdoor products store and a dried foods company.
Ryan Nicholas Sandes "Hedgie" is a South African trail runner. In 2010 he became the first competitor to have won all four of the 4 Deserts races.
Ali Wehbi is an extreme runner and racer who was the first Lebanese and Arab to complete the 4 Deserts race. Pushing the boundaries of endurance running since 2004, Ali Wehbi has spent the past 16 years proving to the world that there is no limit to what a man can achieve with his own body strength and an unrelenting sense of determination.
Andrew Murray is a Scottish doctor, runner and author who works for the Scottish government promoting physical activity for health. He became widely known in January 2011 when he completed a 2659-mile run from John o' Groats in far north Scotland to Merzouga, in the Moroccan Sahara desert running an average of over 34 miles for 78 consecutive days.
Simon Vincent Donato is a Canadian geologist, ultra-endurance athlete, and entrepreneur. He produced and co-starred in the TV show Boundless, and is the founder of Adventure Science and co-founder of Stoked Oats.
Mahmut Yavuz is a Turkish Navy officer, who serves, currently as a lieutenant, in the SAT Commando unit of the Marines and Special Forces. He is best known for his successful career as an ultramarathon runner and his indistinct fast speech. He holds many records and currently works as a running instructor.
Harvey Sweetland Lewis is an American ultrarunner.
Samantha Gash is an Australian professional endurance athlete, social entrepreneur, motivational speaker. As an endurance athlete, Gash focuses on long distance expedition runs and adventure races. She is an ambassador to numerous organizations and events including World Vision, Lululemon Athletica, Run Melbourne and Travel Play Live.
Fiona Oakes is a British distance runner who holds four world records for marathon running. In 2013, she won both the Antarctic Ice Marathon and the North Pole Marathon. She runs despite losing a kneecap due to a tumour when she was 17. Oakes has been vegan since she was 6 years old. As far as Fiona is aware, she was the first vegan woman to complete the Marathon des Sables. She runs Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary, is an ambassador for The Vegan Society, and is a patron of the Captive Animals Protection Society.
Elisabet Barnes is a Swedish athlete specialized in ultrarunning. Her major claim to fame is winning the Marathon des Sables in 2015, winning each stage of the race. She repeated her win in 2017. The Marathon des Sables has been listed by Outside Magazine as one of the 9 toughest ultramarathons in the world. In 2015, she participated in six races, winning all and setting new course records in four.
Dion Leonard is an Australian/British endurance athlete and ultramarathon runner, motivational speaker, and author of New York Times Bestseller Finding Gobi, the non-fiction memoir of his story of his dog, Gobi, who ran 77 miles of a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert. Leonard who grew up in Warwick, Queensland before moving to the U.K. started running in 2013 and has already achieved numerous top 10 finishes in ultra races around the world in the most extreme conditions. Leonard has not only competed in but completed some of the world's toughest ultra running races across the most inhospitable landscapes.
Rachid El Morabity is a Moroccan athlete born 3 March 1982 in Zagora. He is a specialist of ultra-trail, and has won the Marathon des Sables 9 times. He was also ranked 2nd overall in the OCC in August 2016 and came 2nd in the UT4M 90 in August 2015.
