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, being a runner herself and also enjoys 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, Hong Kong 100, the Gobi March and Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset.
Sam's involvement with RacingThePlanet started when she volunteered at the Gobi March 2005 in the Turpan Basin of Xinjiang Autonomous Region of far western China. Despite it being the hottest event on record, she fell in love with the spirit of the RacingThePlanet Ultramarathons and soon came on board as a staff member a few years later.
Sam has been to more than forty RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts events, in a management capacity during her nearly 15 years with the company. Sam will be the co-race director at RacingThePlanet: Greece 2025.
Andrea ANDREWS
Operations Manager
Chile, Resident in Australia
Chilean Andrea Andrews is a clinical dietitian and a mum-of-two who lives in Australia. Her first RacingThePlanet event was in 2010 when she volunteered for the Atacama Crossing which she says is "the most spectacular race I have ever been a part of and most importantly in my home country". She came to that race with her husband who was competing. She never expected to have such an amazing time, and was hooked. She went on to volunteer in 2011 for the roving race in Nepal and in 2015 she decided to see what it was like from the competitor side and competed in the roving race in Ecuador which she describes as "an epic challenge and a humbling experience to get to complete this kind of race". In 2017, 11 months after having her beautiful baby girl, she completed the Patagonia roving race, wanting to break the stereotype that new mothers were not able to be adventurous. "It was an amazing challenge and my best race so far". She put her volunteering on hold when she had a second baby but avidly followed the races from her couch with massive FOMO and decided that she would definitely be joining the team again.
Andrea loved competing but is coming back this time as a member of the management team. Her favourite part of the race is the checkpoint and camp life, and the camaraderie formed by the volunteer team. We welcome her back to her fifth RacingThePlanet event - having volunteered twice, once at the Atacama Crossing, and twice as a racer. She is most looking forward to getting to know everyone and findimg out why they are here.
Privacy policy and cookies:
By browsing this website you accept cookies used to improve and personalise our services and marketing, and for social activity. Read our Privacy Policy for more about what we do with your data, as well as your rights and choices – including how to manage cookies.
Signup For Newsletter
Form Submited Successfully
Thank you for registering for the RacingThePlanet newsletter.
Newsletter
Online Store
Login
