Race Coverage

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

Atacama Crossing Home

Atacama Crossing 2025 - Snapshot of the Field

As we look forward to the 18th edition of the Atacama Crossing, which begins on 30 March 2025, let’s review the field including the stats, the facts and the top contenders below:

  • 44 countries represented
  • The countries most represented include:
    • United States
    • Spain
    • Poland
    • Taiwan
  • Serbia, Guernsey, Jersey, Argentina and Bolivia are also represented, among others.
  • Youngest: Mike Gawron Jr. from Poland who is not yet 20.
  • Oldest: Vickie McDonald from the United States at 72 years young.
  • 25% women / 75% men
  • 52% have completed a RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Ultramarathon previously, and 48% are joining for their first time

*these individuals will also complete the 4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus at the conclusion of the Atacama Crossing 2025

**these individuals will complete the 4 Deserts Grand Slam or Plus for the second time upon the conclusion of the Atacama Crossing 2025!!

You can read more about the 4 Deserts Grand Slam & Grand Slam Plus Contenders in this article.

  • Twenty-one (21) people are returning to the Atacama Crossing
    • Ash “Ashacama” Mokhtari joins his 12th (!) Atacama Crossing
    • Four individuals are hoping for redemption after not completing the Atacama Crossing the first time.

TOP MEN

  • Reinhold Hugo
  • Vicente Beneito
  • Ben Fox
  • Anton Zyrianov

TOP WOMEN 

  • Maigua Ojeda Perez
  • Ester Alves

There are plenty more who will be racing for a podium or Top 10 finish and no doubt there will be some unknown speedsters among the competitors.

TEAMS

The team competition is going to be exciting this year with four Official Teams and seven Group Teams. In 2024, we made some changes to the Team Category:

  • Official Team – can have two or more members, they must all complete the entire course together.
  • Group Team – can have three or more members. They do not have to complete the course together. The average time of all group team members will be their Group Team time. The Group Team with the lowest average time for completing the course will be the winner.

All team members will also get an individual ranking.

The Teams include:

INTEREST

Family Occasion 

  • Mike Gawron and his son, Mike Jnr, will race together.
  • Father-son duo Henryk and Jakub Szymański join the Gawrons as Fathers & Sons of Anarchy (Team Poland).
  • Simon and Sacha Wilson are a father-son duo; however, they are unlikely to be racing together.
  • Rachel Pratt will race with her husband Laurent Morel – having been given the race entry as a surprise birthday present.
  • Pamela Fletcher and Susan Murphy are competing as a couple.
  • Team Chelacabur is made of partners Ash Mokhtari / Judy McCartney joined by Adam Stiles whose wife is on the medical team and Hernan Garcia. Hernan’s daughter, Maria, is a volunteer!
  • Marisa Rodriguez and her husband Edward Wynder make up Team Honeymooners!
  • Two couples from Spain will join the race together: Nerea Hermo / Cristobal Bernabe Trecu and Ester Amills / Pablo Segura.

Other Interesting Facts

  • Kevin Lin is the 4 Deserts Champion from 2006 after winning the Atacama Crossing 2004 and finishing on the podium at the Gobi March (China) – twice, the Sahara Race (Egypt) and The Last Desert (Antarctica). He is a famous ultramarathoner and sports business personality in Taiwan.
  • Ash Mokhtari is returning to his twelfth Atacama Crossing which has earnt him the nickname “Ashacama”. He has completed more RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Ultramarathons than anyone else in the world. This is Ash’s 27th race!
  • Jacqueline Furniss – is returning to a race 15 years after the last one that she completed.
  • Five Competitors have been staff or volunteers previously: Hernan Garcia has been at more than ten races on the staff including as the course director for the Atacama Crossing; Adam Stiles is a regular member of the medical team; Judy McCartney, Alicia Ng and Rafiq Karovaliya have all been volunteers.
    • We also have two 4 Deserts Club members (Tony Brammer and Doreen Hoffman) and eight previous competitors on the staff and volunteer teams.
  • Rafiq Karovaliya and Ivan Schmidt – are competing in their seventh consecutive RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon.

It looks like it is going to an exciting and fun race with 150 people on the starting line. You can follow the race as it happens on the Atacama Crossing Live Page and sign up for breaking news to receive updates to your email during each Stage of the race.