Ryan "Hedgie" Nicholas Sandes (born 10 March 1982 in Cape Town) is a South African trail runner.
In 2009 he placed second in RacingThePlanet Namibia, and won of the Jungle Ultra Marathon in Floresta Nacional do Tapajós in Pará, Brazil, setting a new course record.
This achievement prompted Mary Gadams, founder and CEO of RacingThePlanet and organiser of the event, to state “Ryan Sandes is clearly one of the top endurance athletes in the world - to have won all 4 Deserts is a remarkable accomplishment.” At the time, only 81 individuals had completed all four trails, and 11 competitors had done them in the same calendar year.
[3] In 2010, Time magazine included the 4 Deserts Challenge on a list of the ten most demanding endurance races in the world.
[4] Sandes won the 2011 Leadville Trail 100 in a time of 16:46:54, more than half an hour ahead of runner-up Dylan Bowman.