THE LAST DESERT (ANTARCTICA)
ANTARCTICA'S ONLY MULTI-STAGE FOOTRACE

26 November 2024

DAYS TO GO

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

The Last Desert Home

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

United States, Resident in Hong Kong

Mark ELLIS, M.D.

physician

United States

Ali LIDDLE

United Kingdom

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

United States

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Brazil

Michael MURPHY

Videographer

United States

Carlos GARCIA PRIETO

Staff

Spain

Sanae KONDO

Staff

Japan

Andrea ANDREWS

Dietitian

Chile, Resident in Australia

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

United States, Resident in Hong Kong

Mary Gadams will be the race director for the 10th Edition of The Last Desert in Antarctica. Mary founded RacingThePlanet in 2002. Prior to founding RacingThePlanet, Mary worked in investment banking and strategy, including as a global strategist in the Chairman's Office of the Samsung Group in Seoul, Korea, working on special projects including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital and global strategy. Prior to that time, she also spent eight years with a large investment bank in the United States.

Mary has lived in six countries and been involved in a significant number of sporting events. She was team captain of three Eco-Challenge teams, with a best finish of sixth in the ESPN X Games, and has completed dozens of marathons and ultramarathons, including the Boston Marathon (three times) and the Marathon des Sables multiple times with a personal best in the women's division of 26:30. Mary's ultramarathon experience spans the Western States Endurance Run (100 miles), the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race, the London to Brighton Race (55 miles), the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker (100km), the Texas Trail Run (50 miles), the JFK 50-Miler, the Atacama Crossing and the Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset. She has also made it to the summits of Mt. Toubkal in Morocco, Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia, Japan's Mt. Fuji (twice), Mt. Fansipan in Vietnam and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Mary earned an undergraduate degree in the US and a master's degree in the United Kingdom. She also studied Chinese in Shanghai, China, French in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, Spanish in Seville, Spain, and Korean in Seoul, Korea.

Mark ELLIS, M.D.

physician

United States

Dr. Mark Ellis joins The Last Desert in Antarctica as the medical director.

From Greenville, South Carolina, Dr. Mark works as an emergency physician at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. A graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Dr. Mark completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida and a Wilderness Medicine Fellowship at Stanford University's School of Medicine in California.

Dr. Mark is a man truly at ease in the outdoors. He previously worked as the Medical Director at the Sahara Race 2011, Gobi March 2012, Atacama Crossing 2013, Sahara Race (Namibia) 2017, RacingThePlanet: Sri Lanka 2016 as well as being on the medical team for RacingThePlanet: Australia 2010, the Gobi March (China) 2010 and RacingThePlanet: Madagascar 2014. "I really enjoy working in austere environments and getting the opportunity to care for others who enjoy it as well" says Dr. Mark.

When he is not in the hospital, Dr. Mark enjoys exploring and hiking southern Appalachia with his wife, Sarah, and four kids - Taylor, Noah, Emma Kate and Luke. He also spends time mountain biking, backpacking, rock climbing, photography, running marathons and traveling. Mark completed RacingThePlanet: Iceland as a competitor with his wife, Sarah, in 2013!

Ali LIDDLE

United Kingdom

We are delighted to welcome Ali Liddle back as the Expedition Leader for The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2024 for the fourth time. Originally from the UK, Ali has been working on Antarctic and Arctic expedition cruises for more years than she cares to remember.

Ali spent 15 years living in the Falkland Islands where she worked as a Primary school teacher both teaching out in ‘camp’ and at the school in Stanley. Latterly, she was employed as Education Officer for Falklands Conservation and shared her time between classroom teaching and conservation. In 1997, she spent 9 months living on South Georgia where she ran the Post Office and took every opportunity to hike, ski and explore the surrounding peaks and coastline.

She has published three books to date: Plants of the Falkland Islands and two art and craft books for children using penguins and albatross as the inspiration. Ali is a keen runner, having completed three marathons in the Falkland Islands and two in the UK, and she also enjoys cycling, hiking and camping.She has recently relocated from Northumberland to the Isle of Skye where she is renovating a cottage and enjoying the hiking opportunities of the island.

Her particular interest is natural history and the wildlife, and she enjoys sharing her knowledge of and passion for the polar regions.

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

United States

Originally from Argentina, Hernan Garcia works as an engineer in Tennessee in the United States. An experienced athlete in all things nautical, Hernan has sailed extensively around the world qualifying for the Olympics in Brasil. Hernan has more than twenty-five marathons under his belt and has completed the Sahara Race (Egypt) 2009, the Gobi March (China) 2011 and the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2012. At RacingThePlanet: Madagascar 2014, Hernan joined as the Camp Manager. At the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2014 and The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2022 , Hernan was the Course Director. Hernan joins us as Course Director for RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race and The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2024.

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Brazil

Thiago Diz is an adventure and travel photographer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His RacingThePlanet adventures started 6 years ago when he joined the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2013 as an official photographer. He has also been a hard-working photographer at Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2014, Sahara Race (Jordan) 2015, RacingThePlanet: Ecuador 2015, Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2016, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2016, Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2017, RacingThePlanet: Patagonia 2017, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2018, Gobi March (Mongolia) 2019, Namib Race (Namibia) 2021, RacingThePlanet: Lapland 2022, Namib Race (Namibia) 2022, Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2022 and The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2022. We are excited to welcome Thiago at The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2024. We all look forward to seeing his awesome photos!!

Michael MURPHY

Videographer

United States

Michael Murphy, born and raised in California was bitten by the travel bug at an early age. He has been to over 90 countries and had many adventures including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro; running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef; and playing rugby in New Zealand. Michael turned his passion for travel into his vocation by attending 911 Media Arts Center and self producing hundreds of shorts on Cuba, Thailand, Turkey and Brazil to name just a very few. He has produced work for Lonely Planet, Trip Films, World Cup Rally, Lindblad Expeditions and Nothin But Shorts. Michael has a way with connecting with people of any country, it’s truly his passion and is evident in his films. He is the official videographer at The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2024.

Carlos GARCIA PRIETO

Staff

Spain

Carlos Garcia will be the Course Director for the Antarctica Ultramarathon. Spaniard Carlos Garcia Prieto has worked as the Course Director at more than twenty RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts races and more than a dozen ultra-distance events in total. A qualified architect, Carlos established his own design company after graduating from the Higher Technical School of Architecture at University of Madrid in 1990 with an Architect degree and has since gained more than 11 years experience in designing commercial spaces and public architecture.

Carlos' skill and knowledge of course design is an obvious by-product of his experience as both a designer and competitor. He completed his first RacingThePlanet race in 2007 and soon after decided to tackle the 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Series. He is a 4 Deserts Club member, having successfully completed the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2007, the Gobi March (China) 2007, the Sahara Race (Egypt) 2008 and The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2008. He has also completed the Marathon des Sables, Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, Grand Raid Reunion, RacingThePlanet: Vietnam 2008 and a number of other ultramarathons. A lover of the outdoors and pursuer of sporting challenges, multilingual Carlos has now worked as the Course Director for the Sahara Race (Egypt) in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2012, RacingThePlanet: Australia 2010, Jordan 2012, Iceland 2013, Ecuador 2015, Sri Lanka 2016, Gobi March (Mongolia) 2018, 2019 and 2023, Georgia 2021 and Lapland 2022. He has also set a number of 100-kilometer courses in the Sahara, Namib and Kalahari Deserts.

Carlos is an active member of the ultramarathon community. He regularly talks on ultrarunning and is a contributing editor for leading sports publications in Spain and Italy. What does this RacingThePlanet enthusiast say he loves most about the races? "In RacingThePlanet races you are never alone. You can run alone, but you will always find someone that will give you a hand."

Sanae KONDO

Staff

Japan

Andrea ANDREWS

Dietitian

Chile, Resident in Australia

Andrea Andrews from Chile is a clinical Dietitian and a mum of two who lives in Australia. Her first RacingThePlanet event was in 2010 when she volunteered for the Atacama Crossing which she says is "the most spectacular race I have ever been a part of and most importantly in my home country". She came to that race with her husband who was competing. She never expected to have such an amazing time, and was hooked. She went on to volunteer in 2011 for the roving race in Nepal and in 2015 she decided to see what it was like from the competitor side and competed in the roving race in Ecuador which she describes as "an epic challenge and a humbling experience to get to complete this kind of race". In 2017, 11 months after having her beautiful baby girl she completed the Patagonia roving race, wanting to break the stereotype that new mothers were not able to be adventurous "it was an amazing challenge and my best race so far". She put her volunteering on hold when she had a second baby but avidly followed the races from her couch with massive FOMO and decided that she would definitely be joining the team again.
Andrea loved competing but is coming back this time as a volunteer. Her favourite part of the race is the checkpoint and camp life and the camaraderie formed by the volunteer team. We welcome her back to her fifth RacingThePlanet event - having volunteered twice, once at the Atacama Crossing, and twice as a racer. She is most looking forward to getting to know everyone and find out why they are here.

THE LAST DESERT (ANTARCTICA) ANTARCTICA'S ONLY MULTI-STAGE FOOTRACE

DAYS TO GO

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Mark ELLIS, M.D.

physician

Ali LIDDLE

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Michael MURPHY

Videographer

Carlos GARCIA PRIETO

Staff

Sanae KONDO

Staff

Andrea ANDREWS

Dietitian

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Mark ELLIS, M.D.

physician

Ali LIDDLE

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Michael MURPHY

Videographer

Carlos GARCIA PRIETO

Staff

Sanae KONDO

Staff

Andrea ANDREWS

Dietitian

THE LAST DESERT (ANTARCTICA)
ANTARCTICA'S ONLY MULTI-STAGE FOOTRACE