The Gladiator Events Team
We choose our team for their passion for the charity sector and for outdoor adventure, as well as their expertise and professionalism in event management and leadership.
Sarah Kenny: Founder & Director
Best Adventure: Wild camping overnight in Mayan ruins in the depths of the Guatemalan jungle after missing the last bus. As the sun set, thousands of howler monkeys started their chorus which echoed across the jungle – mesmerising and a little bit terrifying!
Giving Back: I volunteer as a mentor, for a refugee charity and a non-profit scheme for the events industry.
Felicity Taylor-Armstrong: Senior Operations Manager
Best Adventure: 5 day canoe trip down Saco River in New Hampshire and Maine.
Giving Back: I love getting involved in local projects and currently volunteering at a local soup kitchen. I have also recently trained as a St John Ambulance vaccinator helping with the COVID-19 vaccination roll out.
Elodie Hall Ruiz: Senior Event Manager
Best Adventure: On a camping holiday in the Gorges du Tarn, I bungee jumped from a 50m viaduct, paddled my kayak for 12km downstream with my dog on board and jumped off a 10m rock while canyoning.
Giving Back: I am a fully trained cardiopulmonary resuscitator, I am signed up with Le Bon Samaritain and can be called upon to resuscitate anybody in distress.
Stuart Rodgers: Event Manager
Best Adventure: At 27 I took a year out travelling and working around New Zealand and South East Asia. From buying campervans, to swimming with dolphins to skydiving from 18000ft over glaciers and everything in between, it was a year filled with adventures, friendships and awesome memories!
Giving Back: Most years I help out with school expeditions abroad. Part of these include community work in local areas. I have helped build bridges in Borneo, and replant rainforest in Costa Rica to name a few. It's always with local people to benefit the community.
Abi Knapton : Event Manager
Best Adventure: Saving a lost dog whilst out on a recce in the Yorkshire Dales! Bob the dog followed Elodie for 6K before we managed to reunite him with his owners. Turns out he is a natural escape artist and loves following walkers. He has been brought home in a police car before after following walkers on a 10 mile walk!
Giving Back: I coach at a local Netball Club, as a player myself I really enjoy working with and coaching the children!
Fred Newton: Partnerships Manager
Best Adventure: Spending three weeks climbing to the roof of the Andes up Aconcagua (a 7000m metre peak). We were stuck in a high camp for almost a week with 60mph winds buffeting our little tents and finally had a narrow window to go for the summit, an exhausting and exhilarating 18 hour climb to the top (and back!).
Giving Back: I chair a voluntary committee of the Thames Valley Series, a wonderful collaboration of 9 local running clubs who put on 6 races each year for the local community. I am also involved in a small working group of enthusiasts promoting and developing the sport of swimrun in the UK.
Denzel Manyande : Event Operations
Best Adventure: A 6-week bike tour through France and along the Mediterranean into Spain! The routine was challenging because we had a deadline to cover the miles. I love a challenge that involves a strategy and sheer effort.
Giving Back: I’m a huge believer in the benefits of running and exercise in general. Occasionally, I coach runners who want to get fit or run their first ‘race’. I’ve had a few people who’ve become running converts and I love being able to show someone a different way to appreciate the sport!
Emma Butler: Event Coordinator
Best Adventure: A multi-day trek through the jungles in Colombia to reach Ciudad Perdida – the “Lost City”. The trip was full of beautiful views, great local food, waterfalls to jump from and amazing people. The final push involved a steep and gruelling climb of 1,200 stone steps but was all worth it when we could celebrate with an amazing view of the hills and jungles.
Giving Back: I am soon to begin mentoring with Elevate. Having experienced the benefits of having a mentor I really want to give back to upcoming Event Graduates and give them the confidence and guidance as they kickstart their career.
Kim Gratton: Event Operations
Best Adventure: Whilst on a wildlife research expedition in South Africa, we were caught in the middle of a wildebeest stampede - a group of lionesses had just made a kill and heartbreaking as it was to watch, it was also a complete privilege to be part of that essential moment and witness the behaviour within the pride!
Giving Back: I set up an adventure meet up group within my local community to try and combat social anxieties and feelings of loneliness in people. I organised activities such as hiking, paddle-boarding and cold water swimming and was touched to see many new friendships form as a result!
Lynsey Humes: Event Operations
Best Adventure: Spending 2 years living with a Karen hilltribe in North West Thailand. I managed a project that helped keep elephants out of the captivity of tourist camps. Every day we would walk with elephants, dodge snakes, build houses with bamboo and machetes.
Giving Back: I’ve been fortunate enough to lead a some school-based projects in remote communities overseas. My work included building clean toilet blocks, painting murals to brighten up dull rooms, installing swings and seesaws or simply providing children with their own bedding, mirror, and toothbrushes.
Charlie Knight: Event Operations
Best Adventure: Hiking 2650 miles across America on the Pacific Crest Trail. I spent five months walking from Mexico to Canada, trekking through deserts, rainforests, lava fields and over snowy mountain passes. I had numerous run-ins with bears and mountain lions and also climbed Mount Whitney - the highest mountain in mainland America.
Giving Back: I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail to raise money for SANE, a mental health charity that does great work raising awareness and funds for people experience mental ill health. Over the course of the trek I raised over £3000 for the charity.
Jacqs Leui’i: Event Operations
Best Adventure: Still a work in progress completing a trail marathon in a different country starting with each letter of the alphabet. Only completed 9 so far!
Giving Back: Establishing Unite for Nepal in 2016, a charitable foundation supporting Equality, Health and Education Programmes in Eastern Nepal.
