DESERT ULTRA 2023 | FINAL RESULTS

The Desert Ultra is over for another year.

Our runners travelled across Namibia yesterday back to Windhoek to celebrate in style. They partied the night away with whatever energy they had left and we know those beers and the meal we put on for them will have tasted especially good after everything they put themselves through deep in the ancient Namib Desert.

Massive congratulations go to 1st Male and Overall Winner, Steve Williams. Steve finished this race in 2nd in 2017 and managed to improve on that result with a storming performance on the last day. He began Stage Five 10 minutes behind Shane Thrower and the pair spent much of the final day together again before Steve threw everything he had left into a massive push between the final few checkpoints and pulled away from the rest of the runners. 

Ellie Milnes maintained a string of exceptionally strong performances throughout the race, and held onto both her position as 1st Female and also the 3rd position on the overall podium.

Shane finished the final stage in 3rd in the end after Massimiliano Augusto put in his strongest performance of the race. He did enough to take 2nd Male and 2nd overall though. 3rd Male went to Craig Hamilton-Smith who took that position from Robin Imthorn who had held it at the end of stage four.

Sheila Sanei took 2nd female and Muriel Filliers took 3rd familiar positions to both of these runners who were strong enough across the 5-days to grab those podium spots and defend them from all comers.

Sherief Elabd, kept his attempt to be the first person to finish all 4 #GlobalRaceSeries events in 12 months by completing the full course and we look forward to spending more time with him at the #IceUltra and #JungelUltra in 2024.

Jon Shield’s attempt to be the first person to win all 4 events in the #GlobalRaceSeries will have to wait for another year. We’re certain he’ll be back with all his usual determination and strength and we look forward to being there.

We’re hugely proud of each and every runner, whether they managed to finish the full course, the short course, or had to retire in the exceptionally hot conditions. 

However, we have to take this opportunity to, slightly self-indulgently, offer a massive congratulations to Jenny Hall, our marketing manager. She would not have referred to herself as an ultra runner before taking to the start line. She had never competed in an ultra marathon before and committed to a rigorous training regime over many months in order to achieve the amazing thing that she has achieved. The tracking team here in the UK were over the moon when we saw her dot reach the finish line and we can only imagine the scenes among our team at camp. Congratulations Jenny, you absolutely are an ultra runner now. 

Thank you to all who followed the race. It means the world to our runners, and to us, to know that there are people out there watching over them and willing them forward. 

Look out for more updates and media from our team in Namibia over the coming days.

Enter Desert Ultra 2024 HERE.

28 Started

19 Finished the Full Course

3 Finished the Short Course

6 Did Not Finish

The highest temperature was 53°c

Full Results can be found here:

Stage Five Results are here: