Our Team
Wide Open Trails Directors
Scott Umpleby
Scott has been running and climbing in the mountains for almost 30 years. An early career in land surveying and cartography enabled him to pursue his passion for travelling to the wild, mountainous regions of the world. In the early 1990’s Scott then began leading and instructing groups in the mountains professionally, achieving his Mountaineering Instructors Certificate in 1996. This work took him to all corners of the UK as well as across Europe, in North America, Nepal and Greenland. Significantly in Greenland Scott has led a number of successful expeditions to previously unclimbed peaks in this Artic wilderness.
While at home Scott continued to run the trails and hills of the UK’s mountain areas, regularly competing in local hill and endurance running events. He completed a successful circuit of the Bob Graham Round in 1990, and in December 1999 completed the round again in full winter conditions.
A further career move brought Scott to the management team of Brathay Hall Trust in 2001 where he achieved his Masters in Organisational Development, and where he now works as their Head of Fundraising. As part of Brathay’s fundraising activity Scott is the organiser and Race Director of the Brathay Windermere Marathon and 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge.
Scott is also a Trustee of the Brathay Exploration Group, a charity established to give young people the opportunity to join expeditions to wild and inspirational environments, where they often work with local people to develop sustainable community projects. He is also a member of the Alpine Club and Fell Runners Association.
Jane Umpleby
Jane has been active in the outdoors for over 20 years, running, trekking and climbing in mountain regions across the world. She is an accomplished trail and hill runner and trains in the valleys and hills of the English Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. Her achievements include first women's pair in three two-day mountain marathons, and running the Maligne Skyline Trail in the Canadian Rockies in one day.
Jane has experience of trekking at altitude in the Himalaya, having travelled in the Annapurna and Solu Khumbu regions of Nepal. She is well on the way to completing the Munros of Scotland (284 mountain summits over 3000ft) and has also climbed over 50 alpine peaks in Europe.
She has a degree in Urban Studies and is a trained teacher with years of experience teaching across a range of age groups.
Jane and Scott have two sons and live in a village between the English Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks.
Wide Open Trails Tour Leaders
Barry Johnson
Barry has worked in sport and leisure management, management training and fitness consultancy for over 30 years. He has been event organiser of mountain races, road races, triathlons and sports festivals. He is also a former Team Manager for the England International Mountain Running team.
He has competed as a swimmer at national and county level, and in local, national and international fell races and triathlons. Barry has also competed in five Everest marathons and has been group leader on four of these. He has many years of experience in trekking at altitude in Nepal and elsewhere.
As a long distance mountain runner Barry has completed the Bob Graham Round, the traverse of all the Lakeland Lakes Meres and Waters, a 47hour tour of all the Lakeland summits over 2500 feet, and numerous other long distance 24 hour mountain challenges. He was the 2006 English Fell Running Champion in his age group.
Triathlon competition has given him the opportunity to represent GB on a number of occasions and he was the British Champion in 2007, again in his age group. The biggest high profile triathlon was his success as the first Brit to complete the notorious Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.
He has completed the Pyrenean Raid (a bike trip over all the high road passes in 100 hours) and has cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats in nine days.
Barry lives in Cumbria with his wife, Valerie. They have one son, Simon.
Britta Sendlhofer
Britta, originally from Austria, came to live in the Lake District in 1990.
Always in love with the mountains, the local hills and fells have since been her favourite ‘playground’. She spends much of her spare time exploring the hills – no matter what the season or the weather – always accompanied by her two Border Collies.
While the fells and trails are her first love, Britta has also completed 8 road marathons, before moving up to ultra events. Her biggest achievements are a Bob Graham Round, the Himalayan 100 mile stage race and the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race.
Britta works as a graphic designer and is also editor of The Fellrunner – the official magazine of The Fell Runners Asociation.
Elinor Fish
Elinor Fish has been running for 18 years, starting as a track, cross-country and road runner in high school and then at the University of Victoria, where she won team gold at the 1998 CIAU cross-country national championships.
In 1999, she moved to Canmore, Alberta, where she taught running clinics, helping hundreds of adults to achieve their fitness and competitive goals, and was the media relations manager for Banff Lake Louise Tourism. She also wrote articles about her multi-day trail-running adventures through the Canadian Rockies for Running Times and Trail Runner magazines. During this time, Elinor gravitated toward ultramarathon distances and won her first 50K, the Lost Soul Ultra in Lethbridge, Alberta, in 2003.
In 2006, she left her beloved Canadian Rockies home to accept a dream job as managing editor at Trail Runner magazine, based in Carbondale, Colorado. There, her assignments have involved running through the European Alps for the Gore-Tex Transalpine-Run, Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park for a 10-day adventure run and Canada’s Northwest Territories in bitter mid-winter conditions for the Rock & Ice Ultra.
Elinor lives in Colorado with her husband, Rob, black Lab, Nanuq, and though she is expecting her first child this March, still runs and races regularly, albeit more slowly than before.
Ganga Tamang
Ganga Tamang is from the Sindhupachok district of Nepal and lives in Pangarphu village with his family. He is an accomplished runner having twice competed in the Everest Marathon, finishing in under 4 hours in 2007. This, the highest marathon in the world, starts from Everest Base Camp at 5184m and follows rough mountain trails to finish at the Sherpa town of Namche Bazaar at 3446m. It is arguably the world’s most spectacular race and has been held twelve times since 1987. Ganga has also competed in the Kathmandu Valley Marathon in 2002 and ’07.
When he’s not running or spending time with his family Ganga works as a trekking guide for Community Action Treks. He has extensive experience built up over several years and has introduced many people to the delights of the varied regions of Nepal, including Annapurna, Helambu, Khumbu and Langtang.
Kieran Hodgson
Kieran has been fortunate to have been born into an active lifestyle. His father and grandfather were both runners and his earliest memories are of being carried on his father's back in the hills of the UK. Clearly this formed a great impression and Kieran embarked on a career in the outdoors, which has included work for major organisations, such as Outward Bound and Brathay Hall Trust. Kieran has gained a lot of valuable experience working with a wide variety of groups from all walks of life, as well as gaining professional qualifications in a range of outdoor activities. He is a member of Association of Mountaineering Instructors and became freelance in the autumn of 2006. This work takes him to all corners of the UK.
Kieran spends most of his leisure time running or rock climbing, and has been running competitively for ten years now. He describes himself as a hill and endurance runner but still sports a personal best of 2 hrs 44 mins for a road marathon. He has competed in several adventure races as well as many two day mountain marathons. He considers his greatest running achievements to be a completion of the Bob Graham Round in 2005 and winning a trophy at the Saunders Mountain Marathon in 2008.
Malcolm Anderson
Malcolm is a New Zealander now living in Ontario, Canada. In New Zealand he was an avid hiker (tramper), and also worked for the Fiordland National Park taking people on guided walks on the Park’s trails. He has run over 20 marathons in the past two years in Europe, South Africa, and North America. In 2007 he ran the 89km Comrades ultra-marathon in South Africa, and in 2008 successfully completed the Brathay 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge in the English Lakes District, one of 15 runners to have ever done so. His current training is focused on trail running and ultra-marathon distances in preparation for running 12-hour, 24-hour and 100 mile races in 2009.
Malcolm also writes about marathon running. Among other works, he wrote The Cayman Islands Marathon Experience in 2007, and The Marathon: From Athens to Disney in 2008. In early 2009 his latest book The 100 Marathon Club, will be released. This book is based on interviews with runners from around the world who have raced 100 marathons or more. He also writes articles and fiction.
When he is not writing, running marathons or running on the trails, he is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, where he conducts health services research and program evaluation, with a particular emphasis on innovation and organizational change. He has two sons and lives in a rural area surrounded by trails just outside of Kingston in south eastern Ontario.