Andy Towne

Chair of the Board of Directors for Montane

An experienced ultra-runner with an incredible commercial CV having had leadership roles with many global outdoor and running brands. Andy is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors for Montane, has previously been an Executive Board Member for Amer Sports, responsible for Arc’teryx and the Salomon brands, Marketing Director of Adidas and Managing Director at Musto. Andy’s insight into the commercial choices brands make when sponsoring events and the wider trends within the outdoor sector are surely worthy of attending this day for in their own right.

Lucy Scrase

Operations Director for Ourea Events

We are looking forward to hearing about Lucy’s work on the environmental impact of events and the things we can do to make a difference. Lucy is the Operations Director for Ourea Events and was previously the owner of that other Lake District festival (Keswick 😊). Lucy has been the driving force behind a sustainability strategy at Ourea Events that includes Scope 1,2 and 3 carbon accounting and running the business as a carbon neutral entity since 2020. She is often found taking part in events – particularly MTB - so knows what it’s like to be on both sides.

Richard Warren

Chair of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association

Richard is the Chair of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association and Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team Member. With a proliferation of events in the Lake District hills in the last decade, Richard will reflect on what events can do to be more self-sufficient, how to prepare and plan appropriately (to minimise calls for Mountain Rescue assistance) and importantly, when to ask for help. It will be fascinating to hear Richard’s take on events and how these impact Mountain Rescue.

Chris Mills

Owner of racedirector

Another passionate ultra-runner, who when not running is behind “racedirector” a sports timing company, with an entries system and bib printing business. Worry not, Chris is not here to sell what he does – with a background in Open-Source tech like Red Hat and Linux he is passionate about sharing his knowledge and making sure race directors get the best technical solution for their event. Listen to Chris’ take on where events are at and what the future holds.

Shane Ohly

Managing Director for Ourea Events

Over lockdown Shane took on the task of drafting a new chapter to the Purple Guide. The Purple Guide is the benchmark for health and safety guidance for event organisers and usually referred to by landowners, Safety Advisory Groups and authorities. The new chapter is called ‘Adventure Sports Activities’ and condenses a huge range of good practice guidance into a new chapter specifically for adventure sport event organisers. This new chapter to the Purple Guide is likely to become default guidance for event organisers and this is the first opportunity to understand how this chapter will help us and challenge us in the future.

Andrew Slattery

Former Assistant Chief Constable for Cumbria Police

Long distance runner and recently retired Assistant Chief Constable for Cumbria Police, he is regularly seen at events and out on the Howgill fells. Andy has held a Chief Officer role in Cumbria Police, where he has been involved in major investigations for 30 years. More recently, Andy led the multi-agency Covid-19 response here in Cumbria. We are looking forward to hearing from Andy about how events appear to the police, what event organisers can do better, and how we can learn from prominent incidents in the past. Andy will also advise on the threshold for the police taking an active interest in an event, whether from a licensing, incident management or investigation point of view.

Sophia Reed

Mutual Manager for Activities Industry Mutual

Aside from being trail runner and adventurer, Sophia works for Activities Industry Mutual and will be talking about the dark art of Insurance and events – the things you need to do before you get into bother and the kind of questions that will be asked when a claim is made or something unfortunate happens on your event.

Wrap Up and Q&A

ASEC hosts Shane Ohly and James Thurlow (pictured above) welcome questions from the floor and wrap of the first Adventure Sport Events Conference.