Mensen Ernst

Mensen Ernst, born Mons Monsen Oyri in the summer of 1795 in the village of Fresvik on the Sognefjord in Norway, was a road runner and ultramarathonist and one of the first sport professionals. He worked as a courier and made his living by running, mainly by betting on himself to cover a set distance within a set time. He was reputed to have run about 2,500 kilometres from Paris to Moscow in just under 14 days from 11 June 1832, averaging over 200 kilometres a day, and to have run from Istanbul to Calcutta and back in 59 days at 140 kilometres a day. He took only short standing naps and never slept on a bed. His last trip went through Jerusalem and Cairo, and he died of dysentery in January 1843 near the Egypt and Sudan border.