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Are You Tough Enough to Race the World\u2019s Harshest Deserts? Samantha Fanshawe

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Imagine running 250km (about 155) miles in 6 stages across the most inhospitable deserts in the world while carrying everything you need for the entire race on your back.\xa0 Whether you think that sounds incredible or miserable, you\u2019ll probably agree the idea is fascinating.

Samantha Fanshawe, president of the 4 Deserts Race Series at RacingThePlanet, manages ultra stage races all over the world in some of the harshest conditions from the Atacama Desert in Chile to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia to the Namib Desert in Africa to the coldest desert in the world, Antarctica.

Sam tells Coach Claire what it\u2019s like to race these events, what you need to do to train and prepare, and who should (and should not) sign up for an event like this. It\u2019s a fascinating dive into the world of some of the toughest races on the planet, and you can enjoy it from the comfort of home!\xa0\xa0

Sam has always been a citizen of the planet. She is a Brit, born in Peru and schooled in Pakistan for a few of her early years. She graduated from the University of Leeds with a joint honors degree in Maths and Biology, then went off to explore parts of the world such as Sydney, Australia, before returning to the United Kingdom to work in business development of corporate clients in the recruitment industry. After a couple of years, her company transferred her to Singapore, followed by stints in Penang, Malaysia and Hong Kong.\xa0

Sam has mastered the art of dragon boat racing, competing in the Dragon Boat World Championships. She also plays squash, hikes, rides horses, and mountain bikes. She fell in love with running while living in Asia, starting with half marathons before running the Singapore Marathon, sprint triathlons, adventure races, and ultimately ultramarathons including the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker, the Gobi March, Vibram HK 100, and Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset.\xa0

In 2005, Sam volunteered at the hottest race on record, the Gobi March, a seven-day, 250km footrace. She fell in love with the spirit of RacingThePlanet and became a staff member, and has since worked over 20 RacingThePlanet/4 Desert events.

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5:18 You have a very interesting background, living all over the world. How did you first get involved with RacingThePlanet?

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6:23 Can you describe what these events are like? I\u2019d love to hear what they are and what kind of people sign up for them?

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9:12 How many people actually really run every single day and how many people do more of a walk/hiking?

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9:46 The participants pretty much have to bring everything as far as food. They don\u2019t have to bring a tent I understand, but pretty much everything else?

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11:02 How has the pandemic affected RacingThePlanet?

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12:47 Let\u2019s talk about training for the race. Let\u2019s fast forward to 2021 when everything is perfectly healthy. How would you recommend training for something like this? Is it similar to marathon training?

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14:05 Training for the race with a backpack is super important, right?

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15:01 I imagine you have a lot of repeat athletes who do this over and over again, but I would love to hear about the first timers. What challenges do the first-time racers tend to face?

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16:44 What kind of food do people eat on something like this? I imagine it would be different if you\u2019re running or walking because you can chew a lot better when you are walking, but what kind of foods are most people bringing in their backpack every day?

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19:23 You\u2019ve got all of your food for all six stages in your backpack the whole time. Is that what you\u2019re saying? No one takes it for you to the next stage.

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19:43 I imagine not everybody makes it to the finish line. What are the reasons that you see that most people have to stop the race?

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21:52 What kind of people should NOT sign up for a race like this?

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23:03 I bet you have a whole collection of amazing stories from races as epic as this. Can you share a few of the more memorable stories of things that have happened in some of these races?

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25:19 I noticed that registration for Antarctica is by invite only.\xa0 Can you explain?

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26:57 I imagine you\u2019re not dealing with heat in Antarctica, but there\u2019s probably some other challenges like dealing with the cold and maybe frostbite. What are the other challenges in Antarctica?

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27:56 How many times have you gone to Antarctica now?

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28:29 What is the future for RacingThePlanet? Is there anything new in the works?

Questions I ask everyone:

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30:09 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?

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31:11 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?

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32:35 Where can listeners connect with you?

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\u201cThe whole ethos of the race was not only to take people to amazing places and to achieve things that maybe they didn\u2019t think was possible like covering 250km on foot across a desert, but also to make people realize that you can survive for seven days in a desert without the internet, without your phone, without a comfortable bed, without a shower, and just with everything you can carry on your back.\u201d

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\u201cOur goal is to encourage people to finish, but within the cutoff times and safely and when they\u2019re in the right position to do so.\u201d

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\u201cWhen you think you\u2019re done, you think what you\u2019re going through is nothing compared to what some other people are going through, not just in the race, but in life as well.\u201d

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