Fitness
Ultrarunning
The Sandman returns
Ultra trail ace Ryan Sandes, who has been competing for nearly two decades, is returning to his desert roots and is gearing up to race the Marathon des Sables in Morocco this April.
Ultra trail running legend Ryan Sandes, will come full circle when he competes in the 2026 Marathon Des Sables in the Moroccan Sahara from 3-13 April. The 43-year-old is excited to return to his proverbial roots of desert running and warmed up for the event with Red Bull Dune Dusters.
Sandes finished in second place in a time of 25:23 at Red Bull Dune Dusters, which was his first race of 2026, behind AJ Calitz. The endurance race which this year returned to the Atlantis Dunes in Cape Town is limited to 600 participants. It is made up of a 5km loop where competitors must traverse from start to finish through a number of flat, technical and steep natural sand dunes.
Ryan Sandes preps for Red Bull Cocodona 250 training in Cape Town
© Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool
Sandes, who was a star attraction at the race, is now officially into his 19th year as a professional trail runner. The Noordhoek native may be nearing his mid-40s but isn’t slowing down anytime soon. He remains super motivated to continue pushing and further improving as a top-end athlete.
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Back To Where It All Began In The Desert
The gruelling Marathon des Sables, which comprises 250km, six stages and 11 days offline, including nine days in the desert, will offer Sandes a fresh challenge and something to really sink his teeth into past the year’s first quarter. For the down-to-earth Capetonian, the 40th edition of the legendary race is a way to get back to where it all began for him. “For me, it’s not just seeing how fast I can run but more about the adventure and being able to push myself,” Sandes tells us.
“I’m super excited about Marathon des Sables and the 100km long stage. it’s just been really fun revisiting things and working out what I’ll need to be fully self-sufficient for seven days,” he says. “I’m kind of re-looking my training, nutrition and gear and, all-in all, it’s been a really cool process.” (Read about his early career and the desert races, here).
After running Cocadona 250 in USA last year, Sandes says that because he has been in the sport for so long, he has realised the importance of mixing it up and doing new and fresh challenges.
“The day I wake up and I’m not excited about the sport or my next challenge, I’ll stop,” he says.
However, there is no immediate danger of that as Sandes has his sights set on the North African adventure. In February, gear testing for Marathon des Sables was already in full swing. When it comes to the right gear, Sandes is very specific and wears Salomon shoes, has a Garmin GPS watch, a rain jacket, a Silva headlamp, eyewear, sunscreen and a Red Bull cap/visor at the ready.
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The Evolution Of Ultra Trail Running
Sandes says that the sport has evolved, since his series of victories began in 2008, in terms of training, gear and professional athletes becoming more scientific about it. International teams follow high-performance programmes and focus on nutrition, strength and conditioning training.
“The sport has changed and has become more strategic but I’ve always been someone who runs according to feel and gut instinct,” says Sandes, who was the first person to win all four races in the 4 Desert Series, and in 2013 he became the first person to win an ultra on all seven continents. “It’s important to key off others but at the same time run your own race and not let them dictate.”
Not too many people have been in this sport for 10 years, let alone close to two decades like Sandes has. His longevity is something he is proud of and he puts it down to a great support team, a focus on his strength and mobility work and being able to keep his ‘wheel alignment’ straight through niggles and injuries along the way. Sandes has managed to overcome a number of injuries and illnesses throughout his professional career which include knee and ankle injuries, glandular fever in 2015, a shoulder and hip injury in 2018, a pelvic stress fracture in 2022 and, as recently as early 2026, Sandes focused on rehabilitation after a three-week break from running.
Ryan Sandes on a training run
© Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool
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Respecting The Distance and Recovery Process
“Injuries and setbacks suck but I always say everything happens for a reason,” says Sandes. “It’s about respecting the distance and taking the time to recover physically and mentally. Earlier on in my ultra trail career, I sometimes made the mistake of finishing a race and then jumping straight onto the next thing instead of taking time to absorb it, enjoy the moment and then look to reset.”
When Sandes conquered Cocodona 250 in May 2025 and finished in second place, he said it reminded him why he does the sport. “The training was really hard and volume-wise probably the biggest I have done in my career,” he says. “But it was fun to figure out nutrition strategies and how to handle sleep deprivation.” Sandes will be plotting similar strategies as he prepares for Marathon des Sables. Stage one consists of 32km, stage two 40km and stage three 32.5km. Stage four covers 100km over 48 hours, while stage five and six are 42.2km and 21.1km respectively. However, it’s worth noting that the distance may vary based on the terrain and the elevation gain. For Sandes, he could be running as many as 270km over the dunes in less than six weeks’ time.
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Ability To Endure Physical And Mental Pain
In terms of Sandes’ ability to endure from both a physical and mental standpoint, he says that his upbringing in the southern tip of Africa has helped. “With the way the sport has become professionalised, international athletes need to get perfect sleep scores and nutrition lists,” he notes. “Whereas, coming from South Africa you realise that nothing is going to be perfect and you see people achieve success against the odds. Experiencing people in South Africa going through hardships on a daily basis, and the constant reminder of it, makes you realise running 402km at Cocodona 250 or around 250km at Marathon des Sables is actually not that hard in comparison.”
