Race Coverage

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

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The Namib Race 2024 Line Up

We are excited to hold the 7th edition of the Namib Race in the beautiful Namib Desert of Namibia – and the 73rd RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Ultramarathon.

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

Let’s start with the stats:

  • 123 competitors are expected on the start line.
    • There are an incredible 46 countries represented.
    • The most represented is the United States.
    • Followed by the UK, Germany and Japan.
    • We also have representatives from Croatia, Colombia, Lithuania and our first ever person from Kazakhstan.
    • Namibia will be well represented with 2 Namibian nationals and 4 Namibia residents racing.
  • 77% male / 23% female.
  • Youngest – Michal Jnr GAWRON (Poland).
  • Oldest – 75-year-old Koji OKU (Japan).
    • Bob Huffman from the United States is also in his 70s.
  • 47% of competitors are joining their first ever RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon. 53% have completed at least one before.
  • Eight people have raced the Namib Race before (some on a different course).
  • There are six 4 Deserts Club members who are racing:
    • 4 have completed the Grand Slam – and one the Grand Slam Plus.
    • 4 are planning to repeat the Grand Slam again this year!
  • Three people will join the 4 Deserts Club after the race as the Namib Race is their final of the 4 Deserts Ultramarathons having completed the Atacama Crossing (Chile), the Gobi March (Mongolia / China) and The Last Desert (Antarctica).
  • Twelve people are set to take on the 4 Deserts Grand Slam or Grand Slam Plus (completing all four or five races within 12 months) starting at the Namib Race – 4 are planning to do this for the second time!
  1. Tania Carmona Prieto MEX
  2. Maigua Ojeda Perez ESP
  3. Lisa Fenton UK
  4. Inia Raumati* NZL
  5. Jeison Duarte Da Costa* BRZ
  6. Christian Colque* ARG
  7. Vicente Beneito* ESP
  8. Simran Singh USA / IND
  9. Rafiq Karovaliya USA
  10. Salliann Powell AUS
  11. Ivan Schmidt SWI
  12. Michal Gawron (Jnr) POL

*Already completed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam and going for it a 2nd time.

  • Four Official Teams:
    • Desert Rats – RSA/IRE.
    • Harang - KOR.
    • Team Bueno - USA.
    • Jeanne & Adam – USA/UK.

Note that the team rules have changed in 2024 so teams can now consist of two people or more. There is also a new Group Team category 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. The fastest will likely complete the course in under 25 hours while the last people will take 70+ hours.

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

Inspiration

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

  • Donated a kidney – Jodi Harskamp.
  • One racer who donated part of his liver.
  • There is more than one cancer survivor.
  • Making it a family affair:
    • Couples: Buenos, Loffelmans, Huffmans, Chen-Park, Walkers.
    • Siblings: The Flaherty sisters are competing together.
    • Parent-child: Gawrons, Matouskoffs.
  • A special mention to three people who met when they completed the 4 Deserts Grand Slam in 2012 and are now back to re-create the experience 10 years and 7 children between them later: Jeison Costa, Christian Colque and Vicente Garcia.

We are looking forward to meeting every competitor. You can see the full line up on the Namib Race Competitor List.

The race starts on 28 April 2024. You can follow the to see results, photos, videos, blog posts, breaking news and more: Namib Race Live Page.