News |

Finn runs across Sahara

Finnish ultra-runner Jukka Viljanen has become the first person to run solo across the Sahara desert. Viljanen arrived at the southern edge of the desert in Mauritania on Sunday evening.

Espoo-based Viljanen surprised his support team by running 91 kilometres on the final day of the run, when he usually only covered 50 kilometres or more per day. The run totalled nearly 2,000 kilometres.

The epic run began on 6 January in the Moroccan town of Tan Tan in the Anti-Atlas mountain range, crossing the western Sahara before reaching Mauritania.

The Sahara run is Viljunen’s longest to date. He has previously run 1,000 kilometres across the Kalahari desert, and completed runs in the Antarctic.

Jukka Viljanen's website

Discuss this topic

0 comments

Write a comment

Reply this question. We want to make sure this comment is not generated automatically.

Thank you. Your message has been sent to Yle News. We publish comments between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Yle News reads all comments before publishing, and we reserve the right to edit long comments. Inappropriate comments will not be published.

Thank you. Your report has been sent to Yle News. We review the reports between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Yle News will review the comment you reported and will delete it if necessary.

Latest in: News

Headlines

Our picks

Latest

Muualla Yle.fi:ssä