Role: Trip Leader
Hometown: East Horsley, Surrey
University: University of Nottingham
Degree: Industrial Economics
Year of study: 2
Age: 21
Kayaking Background: I first started paddling when I was about 11 or so and quickly moved into Canoe Slalom. I spent several years training with increasing intensity and working my way up the divisions. My highlights were tours with World Class Start to Augsburg and Bratislava and selection for the U16 Great Britain squad.
Previous Trips: After A-levels, I focused on river paddling and took a year out to kayak extensively in New Zealand, Nepal, Chile and India. More recent destinations include Norway and Venezuela. Venezuela was my first real taste of exploration, where we did 2 self supported multi day jungle first descents and another jeep support first decent. This was an incredible experience and was the most demanding kayaking I have done.
Favorite destination so far: Venezuela because of the exploration but Nepal wins hands down on the experience and people. Norway takes it for the intense paddling.
Extra Skills: Hostile negotiations.
Previous media coverage: I managed to get on Venezuelan national and regional television live. (Did I mention that they said I was an ‘International Kayak Expert’?). I wrote this Sutlej Trip Report.
Other Interests: Hockey, Skiing, Snowboarding, Windsurfing, Footy, Travel and partying.
Music of choice: Mongolian funk actually.
What has been your worst boating moment? Either, realizing too late that I didn’t have enough power to pee all the way out my boat while sat in it or getting ‘done out of’ selection for the U18 Pre Worlds Slalom Champs….its a close call.
Most exhilarating boating moment: Not caring I didn’t have enough
power (see above) or reaching the lake after 2 days of the most intense remote boating I have done on a Venezuelan first descent.
When and where was your last swim? It was when I was 15 or 16 when I decided to go down a slalom course in Czech with no paddles when my hand rolling was suspect.
Most random / unusual thing you have ever done? I ran the Great North Run in a Sponge Bob Squarepants outfit.
What are you most looking forward to about the expedition? All those incredible experiences that you get from every river, some of which you can predict, some of which you can never predict. I look forward to being in those situations where you can do nothing but laugh and start thinking as to how the hell you going to get out of the situation. Mongolian snuff and Russian Vodka should add to our cultural experience.
What part of the expedition do you feel will be the biggest challenge? Keeping everyone safe yet still pushing ourselves is always hard. The biggest challenges will be ones that we can never predict. Perhaps it will be getting eight boats on the plane!
What will you cook when it’s your turn to feed the team? I thought Lowri was doing the cooking….
What piece of kit will you be sure you take on expedition? A small pencil tucked in my BA to write stuff down on 
my boat.
What made you chose Siberia and Mongolia? The incredible scenery and huge, long stunning rivers. Although very unexplored by the British, Siberia is home to some incredible multi day remote rivers. Mongolia is a country that has a lure to it that seems to suit our desire to explore.
As a team, you have a lot to live up to after the success of the 2005 Kyrgyzstan trip. What do you think makes The Four Borders Expedition so special? The Kyrgyzstan boys put together a fantastic trip and made ‘BUKE’ a success from nothing. We are in the lucky position to build on their successes. Big thanks should go out to Tim Burne for getting together the selection weekend and the other guys who helped out.
How do you think the team will get on since most of them only met for the first time in November? Quite a few of us have been on trips together before and a lot of us just met for the first time at the selection weekend. The team seemed to gel together right from the selection weekend and I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone better. We plan to take every opportunity to meet up and paddle together.
