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

13 November 2026

491

DAYS TO GO

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

The Last Desert Home

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

United States, Resident in Hong Kong

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

United States

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

United States

Jo SCOTT

United Kingdom

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Chile, Resident in Australia

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Brazil

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

United States, Resident in Hong Kong

Mary Gadams is 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. She recently hiked the Camino de Sanitago in Spain.

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.

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 Argentina. Hernan has more than 25 marathons under his belt and has completed the Sahara Race (Egypt) 2009, the Gobi March (China) 2011 and the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2012 and 2016. At RacingThePlanet: Madagascar 2014, Hernan joined as the Camp Manager. At the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2014, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2022 and The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2024, Hernan was the Course Director. Hernan joins us as Course Director for The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2026.

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

United States

Patrick Burns, M.D. is faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California.

After completing studies at Tufts University School of Medicine (Boston, MA, US) and an Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, US) he completed fellowship training in wilderness medicine at Stanford University.

Dr. Patrick has worked as medical staff at several RacingThePlanet and 4 Deserts races including RacingThePlanet: Ecuador 2015, the Atacama Crossing 2016 and 2019, the Gobi March 2017, the Namib Race 2022, the Gobi March 2023 and the Namib Race 2024. In addition, he competed in RacingThePlanet: Patagonia 2017, finishing the arduous race. When not working in the Emergency Department, this active doctor enjoys his outdoor lifestyle: skiing, running, hiking, rock climbing, distance cycling, triathlons and adventure races are in his list of favorite things, in addition to traveling and cooking. Dr. Patrick joins the Last Desert 2026 as a medical director of the Medical Team.

Jo SCOTT

United Kingdom

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Chile, Resident in Australia

Chilean Andrea Andrews 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 member of the management team. 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 findimg out why they are here.

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Brazil

Thiago Diz is an adventure and travel photographer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His RacingThePlanet adventures started 11 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 and 2024, Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2022 and 2025, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2022 and 2024, and RacingThePlanet: The 20-Year Race in Jordan. We are excited to welcome Thiago at The Last Desert 2026. We all look forward to seeing his awesome photos!

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

DAYS TO GO

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

Jo SCOTT

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

Jo SCOTT

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

ABOUT US

RACES

MORE INFO

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

DAYS TO GO

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

Jo SCOTT

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

Mary GADAMS

Event Director

Hernan GARCIA

Course Director

Patrick BURNS, M.D.

Medical Doctor

Jo SCOTT

Andrea ANDREWS

Operations Manager

Thiago DIZ

Photographer

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