TRAIL RUNNING
Ryno and Ryan greeting one of the locals during their run
Just after 1pm on the 27th of April , a simple , one-word text message was sent to all involved in and following the Navigate Lesotho project : “ Bagged .” The message , which was sent by
Adrian Saffy , one of the support crew on the project , broadly translates to ‘ conquered ’ in mountaineering jargon , and came through just over 16 days after Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel first set off from Telle Bridge Border Post to circumnavigate Lesotho and set an inaugural FKT ( Fastest Known Time ) for this challenging route .
The pair , who have ‘ bagged ’ other big FKTs in the past , including the Drakensberg Grand Traverse as well as a section on the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal , overcame really adverse weather conditions and navigated boundaries – both physical and mental – to finish this challenge , and both say this one was by far their toughest run yet ! “ It ’ s pretty surreal to have circumnavigated Lesotho on foot . It was definitely a lot more challenging than we initially anticipated , especially the extreme weather we experienced in the mountain section , with ice , snow and severe cold ,” says Ryan .
This adventure took the intrepid pair to the most remote and untouched regions of the Mountain Kingdom and South Africa , putting their navigation skills , physical training and psychological fortitude to the test . The weather unleashed an onslaught throughout the opening few days , with flooding in the region making things incredibly wet and soggy . “ Running through the mud and doing multiple river crossings was pretty slow going ,” says Ryno . “ It felt like we were building a puzzle , because we often had to take a couple steps back to move forward again , and that was mentally quite challenging .”
Looking for Adventure
When it comes to setting FKTs , Ryan and Ryno have really made a name for themselves . In 2014 they tackled the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and covered 220km with 10,000m of elevation gain in 41 hours and 49 minutes . Then in 2018 they posted the fastest crossing of the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal , completing 1507km with an incredible 70,000m of elevation gain in 24 days , 3 hours and 24 minutes .
The idea for the Lesotho run was born shortly after Ryan and Ryno completed the Himalayan run . One of them – they can ’ t actually remember which one – suggested they scale up their next challenge and look to circumnavigate an entire country , and eventually the idea to run around Lesotho came up . “ Post-lockdown , and not being able to travel as much as before , had me thinking about how I wanted to explore southern Africa more ,” explains Ryan . “ I don ’ t feel I ’ ve explored enough of my home continent , and believed this would be an awesome opportunity to experience the wonders of Lesotho first-hand .”
Building the Puzzle
The journey to Lesotho was nearly two years in the making , and Ryan and Ryno have never put as much time into route recces , which started with Ryno , who is in charge of route planning and navigation , building a rough route on Google Earth . “ I basically built it by zooming in and out ,” he says . “ You cannot really use normal GPS software like Basecamp , because the areas that we go into , like on the far eastern side of Lesotho , are so remote , so you have to use Google
Focused on that FKT as another climb looms
Bad weather posed an extra challenge in the first few days
Images : Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool
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