Steve Holland
With the grand title of leader of the ‘Cold Weather Equipment Development’ team it was Steve’s job to plan the trials. Steve has worked with Ran since the mid-80s. An engineer’s logical approach and an open mind was the order of the day to draw our own conclusions and not just rely on the manufacturers sales material. Planning such trials and the shear amount of testing to be completed within such a short time window would be fun at the best of times; doing it without any budget makes it that more of a challenge.
Mac Mackenney
Mac was originally ‘discovered’ on a selection for one of Ran’s expeditions many years ago. He has a number of long distance driving records including that for London to Cape Town in just over 11 days. An expert in expedition logistics and equipment, Mac was one of the two ‘guinea pigs’ in the cold chamber whose comment and feedback would be a key part of our assessment. Mac now spends a lot of his time running logistics and field support for TV driving projects but still makes time for us ordinary folks. For the Max Adventure website click here
Russell ‘Tomo’ Thompson
Tomo is an outdoor instructor with global expedition leading experience and an extensive climbing and mountaineering background. Having supported a number of clothing manufacturers he is very analytical with equipment and its performance and was used as our second chamber subject. Steve and Tomo met on the army Physical training Instructors Course so long ago that they both had hair. To see Tomo’s outdoor events website click here
Geoff Long
Geoff had been quietly minding his own business at the Sports and Exercise Science department at the University of Portsmouth when Steve Holland came calling. We were in need of a skilled person and the equipment to record skin temperatures of the chamber subjects. Thankfully Geoff, with the support of his boss, Professor Mike Tipton, was up for this and has since become an integral part of the whole project. Geoff, as well as being the technical Mr Fixit has a love of the outdoors and has travelled extensively including cycling in the Himalayas (not sure he appreciates the advantages offered by the internal combustion engine). For the Sports Science Department at Portsmouth click here
Abi Holland
Having just finished her GCSEs and at the end of the summer holidays Abi was put to work as support staff, principally for Geoff. Abi has been ‘working’ on Ran’s projects since she was about three years old including being part of the support crew for the Devizes Westminster canoe race as a mature seven years old.
Steven Seaton
Steven has been undertaken many adventures with Ran. These include the North and South Pole marathons, Eco-Challenge multi-day adventure races and the classic Devizes Westminster canoe race. As editor of Runner’s World, Steven was well used to reviewing equipment and clothing. Steven was able to join us part way through out test programme and was a very useful third cha
