Staff & Volunteers

As President of RacingThePlanet Events, Samantha Fanshawe has something of a natural flair for being a citizen of the planet. She was born to British parents in Peru, and went to school in Pakistan for a few years before the age of 11.

After graduating from the University of Leeds with a joint honors degree in Maths and Biology she took some time out to see the word, including working in Sydney, Australia, before returning to the United Kingdom for two years in business development of corporate clients in the recruitment industry. She was then transferred to Singapore with the same company for a regional management role before moving to Penang in Malaysia and then Hong Kong.

Along the way she mastered the art of dragon boat racing, competing in Dragon Boat World Championships. Sam is an all-around sportswoman, a keen squash player and fan of running, hiking, horse riding and mountain biking. It was while in Asia that she took up running a bit more seriously, starting with more than a dozen half-marathons, and then completing the Singapore Marathon, sprint triathlons, adventure races and ultramarathons such as the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker, the Gobi March, Vibram HK 100, and Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset.

Sam volunteered in the Gobi March 2005 when it was held in the Turpan Basin in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of far western China. Despite it being the hottest event on record, she fell in love with the spirit of RacingThePlanet and soon came on board as a staff member. Sam has been to more than twenty RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts events, in a management capacity.

Alina Brown has worked in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe and has a decade's worth of practical experience in sports and event management. A life-long competitive swimmer, Alina co-founded her high school women’s water polo team and later co-captained the women's varsity water polo team at Princeton University. As a water polo player and competitive triathlete at Princeton, Alina wrote an Anthropology thesis exploring adventure racing's status as a rite of passage. She also possesses a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Western Washington University.

Alina’s passion for sport and adventure has found its way around the globe. Her first job as a new graduate took her to northeast Thailand where she couldn’t be satisfied running half-kilometer laps through underdeveloped parkland. Instead, she took up Muay Thai and coached the Khon Kaen University men’s water polo team (becoming the only woman to have ever done so). While living abroad and working in other professional capacities, Alina obtained her surf lifesaving certification in Australia, ski-mountaineered Mt. Cook, New Zealand, summited Mount Kenya and trekked Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit. She has also served as the two-term president of a triathlon club and volunteered on several international adventure races.

Alina is an Ironman triathlete and multiple marathon, half-marathon and ultra-distance finisher. Her achievements include being named a USA Triathlon All-American (2006 & 2007) with top finishes as the overall champion of more than 5,000 competitors at the Seattle Danskin Women's Triathlon 2006; fourth woman overall at the Vibram Hong Kong 100km in 2011; and first woman overall at the Full Moon Desert Marathon 2012 in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Alina enjoys many athletic pursuits, including running, hiking, mountain biking, orienteering, rock climbing, scuba diving and yoga. Her certifications include First Aid and CPR.

Alina has worked on the management team at more than ten RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts events and is responsible for the 4 Deserts Series.

Mary K. Gadams founded RacingThePlanet in 1996 and the 4 Deserts in 2002. She had worked in investment banking and strategy before this. She worked as a global strategist in the chairman's and restructuring office of the Samsung Group in Seoul, Korea working on special projects including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital and global strategy. She also spent eight years with a large investment bank in the United States.

Mary has lived in six countries and been involved in a significant number of sporting events. She was team captain of three Eco-Challenge teams, with a best finish of sixth in the ESPN X Games, and has completed dozens of marathons and ultramarathons, including the Boston Marathon (three times) and the Marathon des Sables multiple times-with a personal best in the women's division of 26:30. Mary's ultra marathon experience spans the Western States Endurance Run (100 miles), the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race, the London to Brighton Race (55 miles), the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker (100km), the Texas Trail Run (50 miles), the JFK 50-Miler, the Atacama Crossing and the Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset. She has also made it to the summits of Mt. Toubkal in Morocco, Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia, Japan's Mt. Fuji (twice), Mt. Fansipan in Vietnam and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Mary earned a Master's Degree from London Business School, and an undergraduate degree from Creighton. She also studied Chinese in Shanghai, China, French in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, Spanish in Seville, Spain and Korean in Seoul, Korea.

There have been 37 events in the first 10 years of RacingThePlanet and Mary has been at every single event. As of January 2013, Mary is no longer involved in the management of RacingThePlanet Events Limited, but rather in a voluntary capacity. Mary is currently working with her husband to regenerate a native rainforest by planting 30,000 trees; she is also involved with charitable activities.