2018 Competitors

Mia Black (USA)

Mia is traveling with her mother, Heather Carr.  She attends Spanish Immersion elementary school in Eden Prairie, MN.  Mia began running a few years ago and participates in cross country and basketball in the fall and track every spring.  More recently, she has begun running longer distances and will participate in the Twin Cities 10-Mile race in early October.  Mia will run a portion of Volcano Marathon and looks forward to using her Spanish with the people of San Pedro de Atacama.

Heather Carr (USA)

Heather has completed marathons on four continents, including North America, South America, Europe, and Antarctica, and at the North Pole. This trip, her second visit to the Volcano Marathon, she is traveling with her 10-year-old daughter, Mia. She is excited to compete in the World Marathon Challenge in early 2019 and is planning her first 50-mile ultramarathon in June of 2019. Heather also has a stellar reputation for making the Volcano Marathon Race Director, Richard Donovan, suffer immensely via her route planning for his transcontinental runs. 

Regis Depery (FRA / USA)

Regis has a goal to complete a marathon on each continent. His first marathon was New York in 1999 with his father. Regis grew up in Lyon, France, but has been living in the US for the past 24 years. He ran the Antarctic Ice Marathon in 2014, finished his 3rd NYC triathlon in July and would like to do an Ironman one day. An airline pilot, the father of two likes to travel with his family to discover new cultures and meet people. Although he has biking more lately, his last long run for Chile is the NYC marathon on November 4th.

Gareth Evans (GBR / USA)

Gareth has been actively running for over 30 years, completing over 30 marathons, including the NYC Marathon 12 times. He is a new member of the Grand Slam Club having completed the North Pole Marathon in 2017 and the World Marathon Challenge (7 Marathons 7 Continents 7 Days) in 2018. Living in Miami, and with a daughter recently enrolled at UCLA, he is heavily involved with Best Buddies, a charity benefitting children and adolescents with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities. Gareth also participates in multiple 100 mile bike rides annually on top of the running adventures. Looking for his next challenges, he has his eye on a 50 and 100 mile ultra in 2019, the Kona Ironman in 2020 to celebrate his half century in life, with the ultimate goal being the 7 Summits.

Sha Mao (CHN)

Sha is a yoga practitioner, travel enthusiast, and marathon runner. In 2017, she completed the World Marathon Majors. Her goal is to travel around the world via running activities and to contribute to the promotion of environmental protection. She has completed the world’s coolest marathon. - the North Pole Marathon - in April 2018, and will run the the Antarctic Ice Marathon in 2018. In doing so, she will be very happy to join The 7 Continents Marathon Club and the Marathon Grand Slam Club.

Lisa Richardson (PUR / USA)

Lisa has completed marathons at both ends of the earth, the Antarctic Ice Marathon in 2015 and the North Pole Marathon in 2017. The Volcano Marathon is part of her journey of completing a marathon on all 7 continents and at the North Pole. She is additionally running a half marathon in all 50 States.

Eric Rieken (USA)

Eric is forever grateful to his family for their unwavering support. He enjoys "maracations" that provide experiences with new cultures and/or natural wonders. Among his dozens of marathons, he completed the Antarctic ice Marathon in 2016. His motto is "start slow, taper off".

Alexander Rudiger (AUT)

Alexander is an Austrian television presenter, entrepreneur, adventurer and motivational speaker who is known to a large audience on the public television show Moneymaker. He is an avid adventurer who is just as happy in the mountains as on the road. Alexander completed the North Pole Marathon in both 2013 and 2018 as well as the Volcano Marathon in 2014. He was born in Vienna in 1969 and is the father of a fourteen-year-old boy.

Jingbiao Shan (CHN)

Jingbiao is a World Marathon Majors, Antarctic Ice Marathon and North Pole Marathon finisher. He will finish his last continent with the Volcano Marathon, thereby achieving membership of both The 7 Continents Marathon Club and the Marathon Grand Slam Club.  Jingbiao believes you "measure the world by foot and everything happens for the best".

Juuso Simpanen (FIN)

Juuso is a former professional soccer player who started running in 2014. He quickly raised his mileage to consistently running 120-250km per week. He has run three road marathons with 2:39 personal record and over ten ultra marathons, mostly on trails. Best suited to being an ultra runner, Juuso has run distances between 70-165km and won the Ultra Trail Tour Finland in 2017. 

Krzysztof Stepien (POL)

Gilbert Summa (FRA)

Gilbert started running marathons when he was 50 years old having never run more than a half marathon. His first marathon was the Medoc Marathonand and he s now a member of The 7 Continents Marathon Club and the Marathon Grand Slam Club. America no his races he has run the Marathon de Paris, Nagano Marathon, Marathon de Tanger, North Pole Marathon, Auckland Marathon, Quebec Marathon, Antarctic Ice Marathon, Marathon des Sables Peru and the Antarctic 100k. Gilbert is a member of Kiwanis International and is fundraising for "UNICEF- ELIMLINATE", a not-for-profit charity that provides help and health to underprivileged children all around the world (http://team.unicef.fr/projects/volcano-marathon). The goal of the ELIMINATE Project is to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus from earth (http://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject). As a professional, Gilbert manages companies in the IT world.

Doug White (USA)

Doug is a 55-year-old adventurist from Tampa, Florida, USA. Hejoined the ranks of The Marathon Grand Slam Club by successfully completing marathons in Australia (Solar Eclipse Marathon - Nov '12), Europe (Marathon du Medoc - Sep '13), North America (Mayo Midnight Marathon - Jun '14), Asia (Great Wall Marathon - May '15), Africa (Mt Kilimanjaro Marathon - Jun '15), South America (Inca Trail Marathon - Jul '15), Antarctica (Antarctic Ice Marathon – Nov ’15), and the North Pole (North Pole Marathon – Apr ’16). An avid runner since early childhood, Doug recently upped his game by completing his first multi-staged, self-sufficient ultra in September 2018, with his finish of the Grand to Grand Ultra’s 171.4 miles course from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona up to the top of the Grand Staircase in southern Utah.

Katrin Wolf (GER)

Katrin started running in 2010 because she had a lot of back pain. She works as a dentist, and the work was taking a toll on her body. Katrin has since run marathons in New York City, Berlin and London, as well as many half marathons. However, last year she took part in Antarctic Ice Marathon and that completely changed her feeling for running, making her look towards the beauty of nature. Katrin hence decided to run in the amazing landscape of the Atacama Desert and the 2018 Volcano Marathon. She lives in Bonn, Germany, and often trains in the mountains and forests, preferring it to running in cities. 

Marianna Zaikova (FIN / RUS)

Marianna became the first woman in history to run 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days when she completed the World Marathon Challenge in January 2015. She is a member of The 7 Continents Marathon Club, the Intercontinental Marathon Club and the Marathon Grand Slam Club, where she holds the record for shortest duration for a woman to run a marathon on all 7 continents + the Arctic Ocean.

Hua Zhang (CHN)

Hua is the founder and chairman of Guangzhou Shibang Group, a human resource company, an executive director of Guangdong Women Entrepreneurs Association, a member of Guangzhou CPPCC, and is also on the working committee of Zhujiang Center of Alashan SEE Ecological Association. In 2018, Hua finished the World Marathon Majors and the North Pole Marathon. She hopes to aggregate the power of talents through running.

Marcelo Alvarez (CHL)

Marcelo is a 48-year-old trail and marathon runner.

Francisco Vaccarella (CHL)

Francisco is a 35-year-old trail and marathon runner.

Matt Gibson (GBR)

Matt started running in 2015 and ran the Manchester Marathon four months later. he has since completed approximately 25 marathons and ultra marathons around the UK and Europe in addition to the Marathon des Sables last year.