The Last Desert and Antarctica Ultramarathon 2026: Meet the Field

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The Last Desert (Antarctica) and Antarctica Ultramarathon 2026 sets sail from Ushuaia, Argentina on 13 November, with up to six Stages on the White Continent from 16 to 20 November. Find out about the field – the stats, the facts and the interesting stories.

The Last Desert and the Antarctica Ultramarathon are Antarctica's only races held entirely on trails, taking competitors across the wild, natural landscapes of the Antarctic Peninsula.

75 Competitors

• The Last Desert (Antarctica): 51
• Antarctica Ultramarathon (including UltraLite): 24
• Plus 9 Friends & Family and 14 staff and volunteers on board the M/V Plancius.
• This is the 11th edition of The Last Desert, 20 years after the first, and the 2nd edition of the Antarctica Ultramarathon.

36 Nationalities Represented

• Includes Guatemala, Colombia, Israel, Turkey, Poland, Norway and Argentina. 
• Most represented are the United States (25), Japan (7), the United Kingdom (5) and Taiwan (5). 
• Counting where competitors live, and the staff and volunteers, 36 countries and territories are part of the expedition – from Oman and the UAE to Puerto Rico and South Africa. 
• This includes 3 people from Alaska – Wendy Bryden, and husband and wife Cade Smith and Katy Ketchum Smith. 
• Jorge Rocca is racing from his home town: Ushuaia, the gateway to Antarctica. 

47% Female / 53% Male

• The Last Desert: 17 women and 34 men. 
• Antarctica Ultramarathon: 18 women and 6 men. 

An Experienced Field

There is a seasoned group of stage racers.

• 12 competitors raced the Gobi March (Mongolia) 2026 just five months ago. 
• 13 competitors finished the Namib Race (Namibia) 2026 only weeks ago. 
• 5 are returning to Antarctica: Louise Cooper (2008), Kevin Lin (2006), Ivan Schmidt (2024), Sejin (Sarah) Oh (2024) and Ji Sung (Jesse) Yoo, who is back for the third time. 
• For many in the Antarctica Ultramarathon, this is their first RacingThePlanet event. 

4 Deserts Club

• 18 people will join the 4 Deserts Club when they cross the finish line in Antarctica: Roshan Chhotu, Lisa Fenton, Mattea Geraci, Anne Hollinga, Steve Howard, Yu Te (Jack) Hsu, Chang Wei Huang, Kevin Hwang, Yosuke Ikuta, TaeYun (Rocky) Jeong, Sukhwant (SJ) Jhaj, Ibrahim Kilicdagi, Ally Lor, Mark Ludwig, Hiroyuki Matsuda, Ana Saravia, Dean Scott and Cade Smith. 
• 5 x 4 Deserts Club members are racing: Louise Cooper, Kevin Lin, Ivan Schmidt, Sejin (Sarah) Oh and Ji Sung (Jesse) Yoo. 
• Plus Beth Whitman (4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus 2023) in the Friends & Family group, and Rob James (4 Deserts Champion 2024) on the staff team. 

Most Races

• Ji Sung (Jesse) Yoo has completed an extraordinary 23 RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Ultramarathons and has finished the entire 4 Deserts Series twice. It all started at the very first race, the Gobi March (China) 2003. 
• Kevin Lin and Ivan Schmidt are both joining their 11th race. 
• Dean Scott is also joining his 11th race, and will join the 4 Deserts Club in Antarctica. 
• Mark Ludwig is joining his 9th race; Louise Cooper and Anne Hollinga their 8th. 

4 Deserts Grand Slam Contenders x 6

The 4 Deserts Grand Slam is when competitors take on all 4 Deserts Ultramarathons within 12 months. Less than 100 people have achieved this so far. Six courageous people will complete their third desert in Antarctica, with the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2027 to come:

• Samah Benmaad from France. 
• Wendy Bryden from the United States (Alaska). 
• Leonid Kasatkin from Russia. 
• Koichi Kawakami from Japan. 
• Katy Ketchum Smith from the United States (Alaska). 
• Stephen Patton from Mexico. 

4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus Contenders x 3

The Grand Slam Plus adds the RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon, all within 12 months. Only 28 people have done it – including Ivan Schmidt, who is racing in Antarctica.

• Odd Edøy from Norway. 
• Margarita Moreno from Colombia / Germany, who aims to be the first Colombian to achieve it. 
• Fernando (Fer) Llopis from Spain. 

Teams

The team category provides additional camaraderie and competition, plus an extra chance for a podium place.

• Team Taiwan+ (Official Team) – Kevin Lin, Chang Wei Huang and Min Feng Lee. 
• Team Iberia (Group Team) – Ester Alves (Portugal), Pablo Segura (Spain) and Stephen Patton (Mexico). 

Special Mentions

There really is a diverse and fascinating field of competitors at The Last Desert and Antarctica Ultramarathon 2026. Some special mentions include: 

• Kevin Lin – who won the inaugural 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Championship at The Last Desert in 2006, returns to Antarctica 20 years later. 
• Louise Cooper – the 2008 Last Desert champion is back on the ice. 
• Ivan Schmidt – an aircraft mechanic who only started running in his 60s and is now a 4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus finisher. 
• Margarita Moreno – the first Colombian woman to complete the Seven Summits. 
• Yosuke Ikuta – who has already summited Mount Vinson, Antarctica's highest peak. 
• Douglas (Doug) White – Antarctica will be the seventh continent on which he has completed a multi-stage race. 
• Mattea Geraci – a Six Star Abbott World Marathon Majors finisher who is running Europe's half marathons pushing her friend Caterina in a wheelchair. 
• Steve Howard – whose adventures include a 4,250-mile solo, unsupported ride across the United States. 
• Members of the RacingThePlanet family stepping onto the course: Tsui Woon (Sherren) Lee, who sources the race equipment; Sandy Kondo, who has volunteered at nearly 30 races; and Mohini, daughter of Simon Damodaran. 

We also have a watchmaker, an edible-rose farmer, a veterinary pathologist, a leading scholar of Holocaust music, a clinical therapist from a seaplane family, a fishing charter operator, a YouTuber with 120,000 subscribers, CEOs, professors, physicians, students and the founder of the top Kilimanjaro guiding company.

Competitors are also raising funds for causes including the Red Sweater Project in Tanzania, Second Souffle, BANPAY RISE and Aspanion Cáncer Infantil, to name a few.

Families

More than 25 people have a family member or partner on the expedition – racing, taking part in the Antarctica Ultramarathon, travelling as Friends & Family, or on the staff team. The Antarctica Ultramarathon is a great way to share Antarctica with family and friends at different stages of their running journeys.

Some of the notable family groups include:

• Kellihers – father, mother and daughter. Denis (DK) races The Last Desert while Meaghan and Ashley take on the Antarctica Ultramarathon. 
• Smiths – Cade and Katy, husband and wife from Alaska, both racing the full distance. 
• Kotenkovs – Nikolay races The Last Desert, supported by his son Semen and Anastasia. 
• Garcias – Course Director Hernan Garcia, with his daughter Chiara in the Antarctica Ultramarathon. 
• Scotts – Dean races while his wife Jo joins the volunteer team. 
• Povlins – Jay and Louise, husband and wife, both in the Antarctica Ultramarathon. 
• Jack Lansing and Caroline Noble – brother and sister. 
• Odd Edøy is joined by Vegard Øverlie Edøy; Steve Howard by his partner Jane Goodson; Roshan Chhotu by his partner Rachel Lai; and volunteer Janka Dolezal is there with her partner Ivan Schmidt, who is racing The Last Desert. 
• Ally Lor – whose mother, Karen Wei, has completed more races than any other female competitor. 
• Gadams and Browns – mother and daughter Kathy and Kate Gadams, with Pamela Brown and her daughters Madeline and Natalie, all raising funds for the Red Sweater Project. 

Top Contenders

With an experienced field, there are plenty of strong runners to watch. Below are some of them.

Female

·       Chizuru Inoue – 2nd female at RacingThePlanet: Greece 2025 and 3rd female at The 20-Year Race (Jordan) 2024, she has never failed to finish a race.

·       Ester Alves – the Portuguese teacher was 3rd female at the Atacama Crossing and has just finished the Gobi March 2026.

·       Samah Benmaad – the French runner and Marathon des Sables Legendary finisher arrives in Antarctica after the Gobi March and Namib Race in 2026, on her way to the 4 Deserts Grand Slam.

Male

·       Hiroyuki Matsuda – winner of RacingThePlanet: Greece 2025 and 2nd at the Atacama Crossing, Namib Race and Gobi March, he is a strong contender for the 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Championship.

·       Kevin Lin, Min Feng Lee and Chang Wei Huang – racing together as Team Taiwan+, all three still have a chance of an individual podium. Kevin has finished on the podium at five of his ten races.

·       David (Dudu) Dano – the Israeli personal trainer and running coach has an Ironman, several 100 km ultramarathons and a 200 km ultramarathon to his name.

·       Leonid Kasatkin and Koichi Kawakami – both 4 Deserts Grand Slam contenders, they have already completed the Gobi March and Namib Race this year.

·       Nikolay Kotenkov – from Russia, joining his third race after the Gobi March 2024 and the Atacama Crossing 2025.

·       Rafael (Rafa) Cecconello – from Argentina, with UTMB and the Diagonale des Fous to his name.

Antarctica Ultramarathon

• Scotty Hawker – the New Zealand professional trail runner and winner of the Atacama Crossing 2023 will attempt to set a new benchmark for the 100 km distance in Antarctica. 

Antarctica always brings surprises, so it's going to be an exciting race to follow.

Staff

We have a team of 14 staff and volunteers including the management, medical, course and media teams, led by Event Director Mary Gadams. They join the expedition team aboard the M/V Plancius.

• 7 nationalities are represented. 
• 6 female / 8 male. 
• 6 have been to Antarctica with us before, including Course Director Hernan Garcia, who leads the course for the third time and has been involved in 28 races. 
• Most have raced a RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon themselves. 
• Rob James is a 4 Deserts Club member and became the 10th 4 Deserts Champion in Antarctica in 2024. 
• Photographer Thiago Diz joins his 21st event, volunteer Janka Dolezal her 15th and John Williamson his 14th. 

Expedition Notes

• RacingThePlanet launched the UltraLite as part of the Antarctica Ultramarathon. It gives participants the chance to complete a shorter distance each day and still take part in everything else Antarctica has to offer, including snowshoeing, kayaking, camping, Zodiac safaris and the polar plunge. 
• RacingThePlanet is proud to be working with Oceanwide Expeditions for the sixth time. 
• Ali Liddle, of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, and the Falkland Islands, will again be the expedition leader for Antarctica. 

More Information on The Last Desert and Antarctica Ultramarathon 2026

• See the full list of The Last Desert and Antarctica Ultramarathon competitors ready to take on the challenge. 
• Follow The Last Desert and Antarctica Ultramarathon 2026 from 13 November with daily updates. 
• See the details of the race at racingtheplanet.com/antarctica.