The Ultimate Charity Challenge Team

Rowan Paterson - Director

Rowan spent the early 1980’s in the Nepal and India Himalaya leading treks, river trips and fishing tours for Tiger Mountain, before returning to the UK to work at their London office (ExplorAsia) with Nick Van Gruisen.

In 1991, Rowan and Nick founded Worldwide Journeys and Expeditions and grew it into one of the UK's most successful adventure travel companies, before merging with The Ultimate Travel Company in 2003. The company's involvement with charity challenge events began in 1997 when Rowan organised and led a trek in the High Atlas of Morocco for a group of 80 trekkers raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Jennie Griffin - Operations Manager and Expedition Leader

After graduating from Liverpool University with a Sociology degree, Jennie soon began within the charity sector with a 10 month voluntary placement with Oxfam. She joined Ultimate Travel in 2001, after working as an Events Fundraiser for 6 years with the charity Scope, developing and marketing their overseas challenges giving her in-depth knowledge and understanding of charity events.

Jen’s passion for the outdoors and adventure, together with her love of mountain biking and trekking has taken her all over the world including Tanzania, Malawi, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, Peru, Bolivia, Japan and India. Her most adventurous trip to date was a 6 months bike ride around SE Asia and Australia last year!

Jen’s role apart from leading trips includes developing ideas for new events and destinations, plus key client and day- to-day event management of the overall charity challenge programme.

Lisa Russell - Operations Manager and Expedition Leader

After graduating from Cheltenham and Gloucester University in 1993, Lisa joined the The Spastic Society (now Scope) organising community based fundraising events where she progressed to develop, market and organise challenge events until 2000 when she emigrated to Australia to set up challenge events in Sydney. Returning home in 2001 she moved to VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to set up their challenge event programme before moving to The Ultimate Travel Company in 2005.

Lisa loves the outdoor life and to travel so being involved with charity challenge events both when working for charities and now working for UTC has enabled her to experience some of the most amazing things in the countries she has visited and also with the people she meets and the charities that she has worked with.

Being both Operations Manager and Expedition Leader, Lisa is able to understand the overall package that is needed to run a charity challenge event successfully to enable that overall success is achieved.

Expedition Leaders

Richard Bendy - Expedition Leader

After finally escaping the clutches of the corporate world in 1997, Richard’s great love of the outdoors has flourished when he set up a company operating trips in East Africa. This led him into contact with the Ultimate Travel Company for whom he has been leading, developing and setting up new charity treks all over the world for 4 years (when not leading his own safaris in Africa!).

Richard very much relishes the job of ensuring that participant’s on charity events achieve their challenge safely, but along the way are given time to appreciate the wildlife, culture and history of the country they are visiting so they all take away some lasting memories and hopefully a few good friends from the experience as well!

Cheryl Bickett - Expedition Leader

Cheryl Bicket has the Ultimate Travel Company to thank for re-igniting her love affair with
the people and mountains of Nepal. Following a brief visit in 1993, she returned to live there in 1997 and quickly integrated herself into the Nepali way of life.

Now back in the UK running one of our more exclusive polo clubs, the fundraising challenge phenomenon has given her the perfect excuse to return on a regular basis, and her knowledge of the country and its language has added an invaluable extra dimension to our Himalayan treks.

She has also developed a certain notoriety for her unusual motivational skills!

Nicky Brown - Expedition Leader

Nicky grew up on Dartmoor and has always had a love of the Great Outdoors and outdoor pursuits. Including trekking, climbing, caving and sailing. In 1994 he graduated in media production from Plymouth College Art and Design and went to work for the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol.

Over the past 15 years Nicky has worked in many locations worldwide including Peru, Nepal, Tibet, Israel, Egypt, Tanzania, Morocco, Kenya, USA, China, Russia etc… running his own media production and photography business, producing over 150 charity expedition video’s.

In his Spare time he helps run the local Scout troop, giving 12 - 16 year olds an insight into all aspects of Scouting.

Libby Chandler - Expedition Leader

Libby Lawrence (Nee Chandler) has worked exclusively in the travel field for the last 17 years taking Charity Fundraising to very high and cold and very hot sweaty locations and American High School Students on Educational Programmes in Europe.

Libby loves the challenge of everything thrown in the path of these adventures and loves finding out about people on the trips. She is known as the Ultimate Travel Company’s number 1 agony aunt and she can talk for Britain!!!!

Michele Cohen- Expedition Leader

Michele has been leading treks around the world for seven years, including up Kilimanjaro six times, Aconcagua twice and to Everest Base Camp four times. Before this she previously worked in the City and was fortunate enough to make the career change when she discovered the mountains! Most of Michele’s spare time is spent exploring a mountain range somewhere in the world.

Fiona Dodsworth - Expedition Leader

Fiona has been with Ultimate Travel for 2 years now and has led treks and bike rides in Tanzania, India, Peru, Chile and Iceland. Her travel passion is Latin America, and so when not leading tours, Fiona still seems to find herself on that vast continent, either up a volcano or even learning to surf! In a former life, she worked as a language teacher and organised student trips abroad, to Spain and to Peru.

Fiona also spent 3 months working for Raleigh International in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, teaching the staff and volunteers Spanish and interpreting for the projects. Fiona speaks fluent Spanish and French and she is working on her Portuguese and Italian.

Chris Hill - Expedition Leader

Chris has been wandering around the hills since childhood. After graduating in 1994 he became a Media Producer in Bristol where he was first asked if he'd like to take a busmans' holiday to shoot some film for a charity who had a 'crazy' new idea involving 60 inexperienced trekkers on a 'big sponsored walk' in Nepal. Almost 10 years and well over 30 challenge events in the Himalaya, Europe, Africa (including Kilimanjaro 6x), South America, Central America and Asia later Chris now leads some of our crazy challenges.

Helen Smith - Expedition Leader

Helen’s life as an Expedition Leader began in 1996 working for the charity Scope. Since then she has led treks in the Middle East, Tanzania, Vietnam, Peru and Chile both as a charity representative and latterly representing the Ultimate Travel Company.

Helen graduated from Liverpool University back in ’91 and began her working life as a Community Fundraiser for Scope organising UK based events so has abseiled down many tall office blocks in her time! As well as working for Scope Helen has also worked in the corporate world both as a sales rep (hated it!) and has now been working within the Audio Visual events industry for the past 3 years.

Even though she now works in a different industry, Helen is still a keen walker and loves the outdoor life. You can take the girl out of the mountains, but ….. (you can guess the rest!)

Expedition Doctors

Dr Stuart Burbridge MBChB, MRCS (eng) - Expedition Doctor

Stuart qualified as a Doctor from Dundee University Medical School in 1999 and moved immediately to the more favourable climate of the South West.

Initially he trained as a Surgeon gaining membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Since then has spent time working in A&E before finally settling on a career in GP.

Stuart is keen on all sports but especially those involving water and snow! Stuart has so far been an expedition medic for UTC on Kilimanjaro and bike ride's in Malawi.

Dr Marjorie Gillespie BA, BMBCH, MRCGP, DpGUM - Expedition Doctor

Marjorie grew up between Washington, Caribbean, South America (hence a fluent Spanish speaker) and the UK.

In the US she studied anthropology at Harvard, before coming back to England to study medicine at Oxford. After years enslaved in hospital medicine she is now a GP. She loves travelling, riding, bridge, trekking and camping.

Dr Sarah Hollis MBChB, MRCGP, MA, DRCOG, FIMC (RCSEd), DTH+H, Dip STI, Dip Occ Med - Expedition Doctor

A GP by profession, she has specialist qualifications in Tropical Medicine, Sports Medicine and Pre-Hospital Emergency Care, having also acted as doctor for Medecin Sans Frontieres and the Langdale Mountain Rescue Team. She has lived and worked in Africa, Iraq and the Far East, and trekked widely in many parts of the world. She is married with three boys.

Dr Dave Triffitt MBBS, DRCOG, MRCGP, MSc Sports Medicine - Expedition Doctor

Dave qualified in 1992 from the London Hospital Medical College and has managed to squeeze in two Raleigh International expeditions – both as one of the Expedition Medic - one to Guyana in South America and the other to Belize in Central America. In between, Dave did large amounts of A&E, plus other SHO jobs before qualifying as a GP 10 years ago. He completed a Sports Medicine MSc in Nottingham in 1998. Dave also had an Art gallery in Oxford for 2 years and has always been very keen on painting, sculpture and photography. Last year he did a conservation project with dolphins in Greece, and with sea turtles in Costa Rica. Dave has been a medic on two trips to China, a Sierra Nevada trek and a bike challenge in Kenya. He is also a keen skier, mountain biker, diver and tennis player. Last year he had a go at triathlons – infact he’ll have a go at most sports. (Except marathons – even his knees won’t take that!).