About Us

Open Adventure was set up by James Thurlow in 2004 in reaction to the lack of Adventure Racing in the North of England.  Since then Open Adventure has grown each year attracting some of the best adventure racers across the world and support from the largest brands in Adventure sport.

With events running across much of the UK Open Adventure is seen as one of the leading purveyors of Adventure Sport in the UK.  For more details on other events run by Open Adventure please see www.openadventure.com

The Team

James Thurlow

James is the man behind Open Adventure, with a real passion to get adventure sport in to the DNA of those that want to explore the outdoors. Having organised over 30 adventure races in the UK in some of the most challenging environments he is one of the most experienced lunatics in this field. If you look carefully you will also find him competing in events across the country experiencing what other organisers can pull out of the bag.

Dave Johnson

Dave has been adventure racing in the UK for over 10 years. Mostly competing in mixed pairs events with wife, Ruth. He has lately turned his hand to event planning and organising for Open Adventure and can be found these days hovering around an Open5 registration and transition area advising newcomers to the sport. After being bitten by the bug seeing the 2000 Borneo Eco-Challenge on TV, Dave fulfilled a AR expedition race ambition by competing in the adidias TERREX race in 2010.

Rob Marriott

Rob joined the Open Adventure team in 2010 and simply loves being involved with outdoor activities. Rob has been travelling, fellwalking and orienteering for many years; more recently he has competed in trail runs and mountain bike orienteering events. His first and hopefully not last Open5 was 'in the wet' at Hawkshead '09. Rob undertakes a number of key roles behind the scenes including registration, results and tracking services.

Nick Gracie

Nick is on board and already looking into the future and Adventure races in 2012! Nick has been heavily involved in the sport of adventure racing for the last 8 years as both an athlete and an event organiser. He is one of the UK's most experienced and successful racers. Nick has taken part in races all over the world and won most of the races in the UK and he and his team have been British Adventure Racing Champions since 2005. He has taken part in 5 Adventure Racing World Championships and In 2009 Nick and his team became World Adventure Racing Champions (the first British team to do so).

James Kirby

James has been in the adventure race world for a few years now. He is a keen photographer, mountain biker and outdoor enthusiast. He has been working with Open Adventure since the beginning and is the man behind the website, all the graphics - not to mention taking pictures for us out in all weather conditions at various events! Check out his web site for more: www.jameskirby.me.uk