Meet The Team
When the daylight is long gone, and the cold and pain are at their worst, these exhausted souls will remember all their kindly sponsors, and the charities they’re fundraising for. Why not help them in their darkest hours? A range of worthy charities deserve your sponsorship, and you’ll also be giving them extra motivation to persist, up and over the last few mountains — each of which will seem impossibly high by then! Thank you, and please mention this event when you donate!
Kirsch Bowker
Kirsch Bowker has been vegan for 24 years and vegetarian since the age of 8. She spends every spare minute in the Welsh hills — particularly the Carneddau — with her excitable companion Pinkle the dog. The pair pass millennia of human history in any one walk, from megalithic standing stones to abandoned 20th century lead mines, with many of the paths following old roman roads, and all reverting back to nature. This temporality of human civilisation/life fascinates her. Kirsch is attempting this challenge to raise money for Sea Shepherd UK, who campaign to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans. Click here to sponsor Kirsch.
Lee Culley
Lee Culley lives on a narrow boat with his wife, two dogs and seven cats – all rescued, except his wife, of whom Lee states, “she rescued me!” They have all lived completely off the grid for the last decade. Lee works with homeless people in Cambridge as a specialist support worker. He has a long history of active participation within animal and human rights and environmental groups, and led numerous campaigns. He loves his motorbike and music, and is affectionately known by his friends as the ‘Happy Metal Hippy’. Having just finished six years of competition rowing, Lee’s looking for a new challenge. We believe we can assist him 🙂 He’s also fundraising for the Brook Farm Animal Sanctuary. Click here to sponsor Lee.
Iain Gibson
Iain Gibson lives in Yorkshire and hails from Glasgow. Having ascended a number of the Scottish Munros in years gone by, he is taking part in this challenge to help kick-start the hill-walking habit once more, after a couple of years of neglect partly due to living in a very flat part of the region. He also plans to raise money for the Dr Hadwen Trust, which funds medical research to replace experiments on animals. Click here to sponsor Iain.
Andrew Knight
Andrew Knight is the Founder of the Extreme Vegan Sporting Association, and partially to blame for this crazy idea. He is a London-based bioethicist, but his Australian ancestors evolved over millennia to lie on warm, sunny beaches under perfect blue skies. Consequently he is particularly challenged by cold, dark places, and will deeply appreciate Andrew T’s offer to carry his backpack. He would also deeply appreciate any kindly sponsors. He’s climbing these mountains to fundraise for the political party Animals Count, who represent the interests of animals. NEWS FLASH: Andrew has now broken his right arm, but plans to attempt the 15 peaks anyway. How stupid is that?!?!
Olaf Laczak
Olaf Laczak, a long-time vegan living in Helsinki, loves to hike in the mountains and is excited to be visiting Snowdonia for the first time. His areas of interest include computer science, sociology and political economy of human-animal relations, animal rights from an abolitionist perspective, human rights issues, and history seen from the viewpoint of the oppressed. Support Olaf by making people aware of a new documentary about farm animals called Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home. You can also donate to Tribe of Heart, the producers of this film, to support their future work.