Jukka Viljanen makes extreme sports history by completing first-ever solo run across Sahara Desert

By Arno Seiro

Jukka Viljanen, a 48-year-old adventure runner and ultramarathonist from Espoo, has become the first person to run solo across the Sahara Desert in North Africa.
Viljanen reached the endpoint of his gruelling route on Sunday.
Viljanen completed the 1,600-kilometre distance across the desert in 31 days. Along the way he crossed over sandy deserts as well as rock lands from Morocco to Southern Mauritania near the Senegalese border.
“I feel euphoric. I was remarkably high-spirited throughout the entire journey, for which a big ‘thank you’ goes to the on-location support team formed by three friends of mine from Finland”, Viljanen explains.

The start
Viljanen arrived in Morocco right after the turn of the year on January 3rd. The first couple of days were spent making preparations.
The Finns acquired supplies together with a local desert safari firm, which also assisted in the actual effort by providing vehicles and crew.

5 days and 250 kilometres
During the first days of the run, Viljanen encountered difficulties. His advance was complicated by a condition called runner’s knee, an ailment that often requires a couple of months of rest to heal.
But not for the first time in the history of ultra-long-distance running, as by miracle, the problem sorted itself out. This can happen when a person aspiring to produce an intense performance comes face to face with a tough situation.
“Organising a run like this requires so much effort that after that motivation is just off the chart. This must at least partly explain the ‘miracle’ recovery”, Viljanen reckons.

10 day and 500 kilometres
The sandstorms he encountered left a lasting impression on Viljanen, as theywould, if you were attempting to run through them.
At times the wind was so strong that he was unable to open the support vehicle’s door. And there was sand everywhere, even in the breakfast cereal.
The sand also worked its way into Viljanen’s running shoes, causing blisters.
“I treated a couple of painful blisters with antibiotic cream”, Viljanen recalls.

15 days and 750 kilometres
The landscape included sand dunes, small acacia trees, and also camels.
“Camels are able to wander around for months without replenishing their water supply, but I had to drink about a litre of water fortified with electrolytes every hour”, Viljanen explains.
And in providing the water the support team’s role was crucial.
“At times they had to drive hundreds of kilometres to get water.”

20 days and 1,000 kilometres
Morocco gave way to Mauritania and a new local support crew joined in the effort. Viljanen had his first shower since the start of the run.
“Luckily I did not quite block the drain pipes of the hotel”, Viljanen says in his blog.
“I washed my hair twice. Ten washings would have been required, but I ran out of shampoo.”

25 days and 1,250 kilometres
Viljanen advanced over the sand dunes at a remarkably steady pace of fifty kilometres per day.
A rain shower took him by surprise. Not surprisingly. Apparently it had not rained in the area in the past three years.

31 days and more than 1,600 kilometres
“Well, that was a rather long jog”, Viljanen said, after completing his journey.
He had reached his goal, the other side of the Sahara Desert, on February 3rd.
”After that I even ran across another desert, the Sahel.”
Ultimately Viljanen ended up completing a distance of more than 1,600 kilometres on the run.
“In the closing stages my running fitness was still really strong.”
Viljanen had prepared himself to complete up to 2,000 kilometres on the hoof, but the local conditions – starting with minefields – forced him to stick to a relatively straight southward path.
In Mauritania the expedition was guarded by a military patrol sent by the authorities.
Viljanen’s next trial awaits him somewhere else in the world.
“Something extraordinary will have to happen to prevent me from doing something similar someplace else by the beginning of 2014.”

Jukka Viljanen was born in 1963. He lives in Espoo with his partner Kirsi Montonen, who is another adventure runner in her own right.
Viljanen has run (and cycled) the North Pole Marathon in 2007, made a 200km run (non-stop) ultramarathon across the Libyan desert in 2008, a 100km Antarctic Ice Marathon in 2009, a 1,000km run across the Kalahari Desert in 2010 (with Kirsi Montonen and South African Greg Maud), and now the slightly more than 1,600km jog across the Sahara.
When one considers that for this last feat he ran 50 kilometres a day for thirty-one straight days across soft sand or difficult broken rock terrain, it gives some idea of the man’s determination and physical fitness.