2024 ASEC Speakers
Paul Foster
Chief Executive, The Great Run Company
Launching the 13 Valley Trail Event. The Great Run Company organise many of the most famous mass participation events in the UK, including the iconic AJ Bell Great North Run, the World’s biggest half-marathon. An incredible 4.7 million runners, swimmers and cyclists have crossed their finish lines. Paul reflects on the experience of creating, launching, and staging the new 13 Valleys trail running event in the Lake District, the rationale behind it, and the lessons learned so far. This fascinating insight will, of course, consider the differences between organising the Great North Run and the 13 Valleys and how a business with experience in road running has bridged the gap to trail.
Linda Cairns
Volunteer Coordinator
Volunteer and Professional Events. Both Paul and Linda have a wealth of diverse and extensive event management experience and, in this presentation, reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of volunteer-led and professionally organised events.
Dr Natalya Kennedy
Medical Director, Ourea Events
Event Medicine. The aphorism "ask 5 medics what they think & you’ll get 6 opinions" exists for a reason... Dr Natalya Kennedy is an experienced Medical Director who has worked with Ourea Events, the Great Run Company and UTMB (UTS) as well as smaller local events. In this presentation, Dr Kennedy will explain how an analysis of medical incidents from previous events could provide an evidence-based approach to medical cover, de-mystifying medical risk assessments and ensuring that event directors have the information required to commission relevant and necessary first aid and/or medical services. She’ll explain the importance of a new industry-wide initiative to collect data from across a variety of events to provide an evidence-based consensus for appropriate first aid provision for off-road running events.
Gordon Parker
Financial Director
Event Finances and Fiduciary Duties. A lifelong orienteer and cyclist, Gordon is a member of South London Orienteers, a committee member, and actively involved in all their events, in particular the annual London City Race weekend. Gordon is also a chartered accountant with extensive experience as a company director of over 200 companies, with a career spanning the banking, property, and leisure sectors in the UK and Europe. He will provide insights into the options available to professional events organisers establishing their business, the financial, tax, and legal implications of such options, fiduciary duties you have as a director and finally, considerations on what the implications are if your business struggles or fails or alternatively succeeds and you wish to sell it.
Sophie Power
Founder, SheRACES.
Sophie Power founded the incredible SheRACES initiative to ensure women have opportunities to race without bias and prejudice. Where women are encouraged to participate, gender differences are taken into account, and women’s achievements are celebrated in equal regard.
Edwina Sutton
Podcast Host, Tea and Trails.
As co-host of the famous Tea and Trails podcast, Edwina ‘Eddie Sutton has the ear of thousands of trail runners, and her brutally honest and hilariously funny stories from the world of trail running have helped to ensure that Tea and Trails is the UK’s most popular trail running podcast.
Safeguarding Female Participants. Event organisers have an obligation to take reasonable measures to minimise the risk to our female participants from sexual offences, stalking, assault, unwanted attention, and other such inappropriate behaviour regardless of whether these threats come from strangers, ex-partners, other participants, the event crew or members of the public. Discussions with female participants demonstrate that incidents of unwanted attention and behaviour by men towards women occur at events and that some females are concerned about the risk of sexual violence or physical assault linked to the use of public GPS Tracking. This panel discussion will delve into real and perceived risks. It should raise awareness of safeguarding threats at events, suggest good practice strategies and mitigations that minimise risk, and reassure women that, as organisers, we take their safety seriously at our events.
Renee McGregor
Trustee, Black Trail Runners
Renee is a trustee for Black Trail runners, Montane athlete and a highly respected Sports Dietitian who has worked as part of the GB team across several sports at Major championships. Renee became a trustee of Black Trail Runners in August 2024 and has led the launch of BTR Cumbria, expanding the great work and awareness of the community, campaigning charity, and encouraging people of colour onto the trails, fells, and mountains. She has competed in some big events over the years, including multi-day races in Nepal, UTS 50, and The Spine Sprint, where she came 3rd lady and 9th overall in 2022. She was also British Trail running Champion in the short course in her age group in 2022. Earlier this year, she completed the Lakeland 50 in the top 9% of finishers. She lives in Kendal with her partner and two dogs, often participating in community events related to sports and female health.
Grace Natoli
Trustee, Black Trail Runners
Grace is an ultra runner and Trustee of Black Trail Runners, a campaigning charity that seeks to increase black people's inclusion, participation and representation in trail running. She is also a lead Trustee for Black to the Trails, the most ethnically diverse trail event in the United Kingdom. Her accomplishments include completing 100 marathons, having run the Comrades Marathon twice, and chasing the two remaining marathon majors to achieve her stars. Grace, a mother of two, a wife, and a grandmother, also runs a successful business consultancy.
Adventure Sports have a diversity problem. Anyone who has taken part in or organised an event can’t have failed to notice how few ethnic minorities are present. Why is that? In this session, we want to highlight examples of discrimination that ethnically diverse participants have faced through their lived experiences at events. At the same time, we want to showcase what good practice looks like with examples that help move the dial to a more positive and progressive state of inclusion. If there is one thing that Ourea Events has learnt from its ongoing diversity and inclusion work, it is that it is insufficient to be silently not racist; you need to be anti-racist in both actions and words.
Lucy Scrase, Events Sustainability
It is four years since Ourea Events embarked on an ambitious program to operate as a net zero business. Along the way, we have learned many lessons about measuring the sustainability of our event operations, calculating the carbon emissions, and reducing the business's overall environmental impact. This update shares hard-won lessons and should support other organizers to make decisions that are sustainable and good business.
Eve Pannone, NSAIDs in Ultra Running
We know that the use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and others is widespread in endurance sports, and there are many anecdotal reports of adverse side effects. Still, it is also a confusing area for race organizers, with the London Marathon sponsored by Voltoral (another NSAID) while other organizers actively discourage their use. Published in February 2024, Eve Pannone’s Scoping Review looks at the evidence for the health effects of these drugs.
Shane Ohly, Scottish Access Law Update
The Land Reform Scotland Act 2003 has existed for over twenty years, but these hard-won access rights are under pressure from a minority of landowners in Scotland. This update shares Ourea Events approach to access negotiations with landowners and statutory bodies, with case studies from the Cape Wrath Ultra® and Skyline Scotland®.
James Thurlow, The Latest Technology
Technology continues to revolutionise adventure sports events, with advancements in GPS tracking, communications, safety management systems, and live footage all contributing to a rich participant and spectator experience. However, as event organisers we face bewildering choices and an increasing requirement to understand how to implement tech. In this presentation, James will share his wisdom on what technology to seek out and what to avoid.