Jamie Ramsay

British endurance athlete and long distance runner, Jamie Ramsay, has completed over 51,000 km of mostly solo adventuring in more than 30 countries, completing 32 different adventures. He is a runner, cyclist, trekker and mountaineer.

Following a successful but unfulfilled 12-year City of London career, working for an international communications agency, where he was a newly promoted Partner, Jamie wasn’t happy with the direction of his life and realised if he didn’t make some drastic changes then things would continue to spiral downwards.

Jamie’s solution was to quit his job and focus his time and energy on his passion – adventure running. His motivation was a desire to live life on his own terms: running was already his passion, and it would enable him to do something physically demanding while gaining a particular perspective from travelling on foot.

His first adventure saw him running 17,000 kilometres — 11,000 miles — from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 600 days unsupported.

Jamie chose the 17,000 km route of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada to Buenos Aires, Argentina because of its relative safety compared to other possibilities and little planning was required; he already had a good level of fitness, having completed several marathons; all he needed was the right equipment.

Having determined the start and end points of the route, everything in between was planned day-by-day. Some days involved running marathon distances or longer, depending on where towns were located. In North America, Jamie’s ‘accommodation’ mostly entailed sleeping in his tent, whereas in South America he frequently stayed in cheap hostels.

Jamie’s diet consisted of porridge for breakfast, pasta and tuna for dinner, and whatever food he could find during the day: fruit, sugar cane, biscuits, and, on one occasion, he claimed in an interview, ate an iguana.

His greatest personal achievement of the mission was traversing the Atacama Desert and then the Andes: Jamie described the scenery as “intensely beautiful”, as he encountered vicunas and flamingos along the way.

The mission took 367 running days to complete, averaging over a marathon each day, crossing two continents and 14 countries, and reaching his destination just in time for New Year's Eve 2015.

During this run he raised funds for CALM, Macmillan and WaterAid.

Following the success of this first adventure, Jamie decided to dedicate his life to pushing his perceived boundaries. Each adventure he undertakes is designed to challenge him in new ways.

His next adventure was the Atlantic to the Andes: A 3,700 km solo and unsupported cycle from Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil, to La Paz, Bolivia. The cycle took 28 days to complete and included challenges such as The Chaco in Paraguay, cycling across the Salar de Uyuni during the wet season and a ascending over 60,000m as he climbed the Andes mountains.

In the National Adventure Awards of 2016, Jamie Ramsay won the Scottish Adventurer of the Year, and Physical Endeavour awards.

Then, in October 2017, Jamie undertook Mongolian Camel Trekking, joining a camel trekking expedition that departed Ulaanbaatar with 10 camels heading west across the Steppes. During his time with the expedition they covered over 350 km in temperatures of around -20 degrees Celsius.

Jamie’s other adventures include the 265 km Transalpine Run, a 620 km unsupported run across Iceland and setting the record for solo running the entire UK Three Peaks and running the Scottish Isles.

As well as working with notable brands including Microsoft, Land Rover Mobile and Cotswold Outdoor, he also works closely with CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

In 2023, Jamie will be attempting a 750 km solo traverse of the Pyrenean mountains that border Spain and France.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.