The Line Up for RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race (Jordan)

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We are excited to hold RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race in Jordan to celebrate RacingThePlanet’s 20th Anniversary – and our 75th race!

RacingThePlanet’s Founder, Mary Gadams, will be present at the race and we are delighted to have three people, Christopher Lewis, Gunnar Nilsson and Philipp Mosimann, who were at the very first race, the Gobi March (China) 2003, joining us, too.

There is an impressive and inspiring field of racers coming from all corners of the planet.



Let’s start with the stats:

• There are an incredible 38 countries represented and a further two countries among our staff.

        > The most represented nations are the United States and the United Kingdom.
        > Following this are Germany, Switzerland and Japan.
        > There are also nationals of Namibia, Chile, Lithuania and the Philippines.

• 73% male / 27% female
• Youngest – Michal Gawron Jr (Poland).
• Oldest – 78-year-old Bruce Walker (Scotland).
  o    There are five(!) racers in their 70s joining the race.
• 82% of people have joined a RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Ultramarathon before.
  o    Just 18% are joining a race for the first time.
• There are twenty-three 4 Deserts Club Members who are racing:
  o    Seven have completed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam.
  o    A further three have completed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus. Only 18 people have ever completed this.
  o    There is one who is planning to repeat the 4 Deserts Grand Slam again this year!
  o    Tony Brammer, on the management team, is also a 4 Deserts Club member.
• 10 people are taking on the 4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus (completing all five races within 12 months). RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race (Jordan) is the third race in their challenge – 3 are planning to tackle this for the second time!
  o    Tania Carmona Prieto (Mexico)
  o    Maigua Ojeda Perez (Spain)
  o    Lisa Fenton (UK)
  o    Salliann Powell (Australia)
  o    Jeison Costa* (Brazil)
  o    Simran Singh (India)
  o    Rafiq Karovaliya (US)
  o    Michal Gawron Jr (Poland)
  o    Ivan Schmidt (Denmark)
  o    Sandeep Singla (The Netherlands)
  
  *Already completed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam and attempting the challenge for the second time.

A further three people are taking on the 4 Deserts Grand Slam which does not include this "fifth / plus" race.

Note that the team rules changed in 2024 so teams can now consist of two people or more. The new Group Team category is where teams of 2-5 can race individually and combine their average time for a place on the Group Team podium.

The Top Contenders
While it is possible to walk the entire course and complete the race, the people at the front are very fast and will complete a 40km / 25 mile Stage in under 4 hours, moving at a blistering pace of 10-12 km / 6-7.5 miles per hour with a backpack and in challenging terrain and climate. The fastest person will likely complete the course in under 25 hours while the last competitors will take 70+ hours.

Below is a list of picks for contenders for the podium and the Top 10. However, there are also plenty of other contenders that we don’t want to mention, or we don’t know about yet.

Men:
Mohammad Al Swaiti (Jordan)
Ronan Minvielle (France)
Takuya Wakaoka (Japan)

Women:
Maijua Ojeda (Spain)
Chizuru Inoue (Japan)
Tanja Schonenborn (Germany)
Christele Fleury (Canada)

Inspiration

As well as the speedsters there is plenty of inspiration among the competitors including:

• Christopher Lewis from Wales / Japan has completed the most races before – 19!!

              o    Many others have completed more than ten races including: Michael Williams, Michal Gawron and Tomotaka Kamei.

• Making it a family affair:
        o    The Walker family comprise husband and wife, their son and his girlfriend.
        o    Michal Gawron and his son Michal Jnr.
  
        o    Couples joining together are:
  
              > Christine Eder and Valentin Mayr.
              > Sandy and Jean Mouret.
              > Karen Debie and Marie Van Ussel.
              > Kristina and Bob Huffman.
  
  We are looking forward to meeting every competitor. You can see the full line up on RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race Competitor List on the website.

The race starts on 22 September 2024. You can see LIVE tracking, results, photos, videos, blog posts, breaking news and more: RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race Live Page