Mensen Ernst

Mensen Ernst (1795 – 22 January 1843) was born as Mons Monsen Øyri, in the summer of 1795 in the village of Fresvik along the Sognefjord, in the municipality of Vik in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.

He was a road runner and ultramarathonist and one of the first sport professionals and employed as a courier.

When he did rest it was short naps, between ten and fifteen minutes at a time, and he took them standing or leaning against a tree with a handkerchief over his face.

[1] His last trip started in Bad Muskau, and went through Jerusalem and Cairo, from where he intended to run along the Nile until he found its source.

He died in January 1843 from dysentery, close to the border between Egypt and Sudan, where he was buried a few days later.