Go Ape

Here at Go Ape we’ve always got our ears close to the ground for news of incredible adventures and we just picked up this story about Kirsi Montonen, an Antarctic-crossing, ultra-marathon-running hairdresser from Finland. Kirsi is hoping that she and her two fellow runners, friend Greg Maud and husband Jukka Viljanen, will become the first people to run 1000km across the Kalahari sands, in less than 20 days. Here’s her story, and news of how you could win £600 towards your next adventure.

 Haircut 1000

What kind of person decides to run more than a marathon distance, every day for 20 days, across one of the world’s least hospitable landscapes in extreme heat? A weather-beaten athlete? A hardened adventurer? A Finnish hairdresser?

Kirsi Montonen is all of the above. Co-owner of a hair salon in her hometown of Espoo in Finland, she, together with her husband Jukka Viljanen and South African friend Greg Maud, is planning to run 1000km across the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in just 20 days.

Her extreme exploits began when, aged 42, she went to film Jukka taking part in the North Pole Marathon in 2007. Not happy to sit on the fringe, next time she joined in herself, on a challenge at the opposite end of the temperature scale, running 195km non-stop across the Libyan Sahara.

She completed the race, even though the exertion put her in a wheelchair for two months. But that didn’t crop her endurance career short. She got herself trim, and the following year ran the Stockholm Marathon. She also became the fastest woman to run the Patriot Hills 100km marathon in Antarctica.

All those extremes in climate don’t seem to have affected Kirsi’s determination, or her hair. As far as the team know, it’s the first time anyone has ever run a full crossing of the Kalahari Desert. The three will cover around 31 miles every day, raising money for the Cheetah Conservation Botswana project, the Kalahari 1000 Challenge’s nominated charity.

It’s not just a case of endurance – the trio will be running across loose sand, shaking it out of their shoes as they go, and will have to dodge lions, leopards, Black Mamba snakes and Mozambique Spitting Cobras, all looking to give them a quick short back and sides.

To find out more about Kirsi, Jukka and Greg, and to keep up to date with their progress, check out the expedition website: www.kalahari1000.com

GRAB! £600 towards your next adventure

If you’re a budding explorer planning a grand sand-based expedition, enter our draw to win a Go Ape adventure bursary. Every 60 days we’re giving away £600 to put towards a life-changing trip. The winner of the last draw was Liz and her husband who’s adventure on bikes took them to visit the orang utangs and via ferrata in Borneo (more on that later). You could be next. To win the cash, we want you to tell us all about what you’re aiming to do – submit your story at www.goape.co.uk/adventurebursary to enter the draw. Good luck!

With thanks to www.kalahari1000.com for the image