amazing people behind impact

MEET THE TEAM

Nick Kershaw

Founder & CEO
Nick is the energetic leader of the dream and revels in making a vision into a reality - bringing people together through the power of running.
His own running experience experience has seen him carrying his bike past 3000 people for over a mile during his first Ironman, finishing a marathon into the oldest Athletics stadium on earth in his homeland, Greece...as well as having the rare, but remarkably easy to achieve accolade, of being blacklisted from North Korea

Dave Melody

Impact Week Leader - Guatemala

Liza Ponce

Comms Leader

Matt Fenton

Strategist & Consigliere
Matt brings a wealth of experience that covers the impact, business and travel worlds through his 15 years of building travel organisations.
Matt has been beside Nick since the creation of the Impact dream and remains his first port of call for all the big decisions Frequently found all over Latin America he has worked to build several successful social enterprise travel companies that take people out of their comfort zone to developing countries around the world to volunteer and experience new destinations and cultures. He has a brilliant strategic mind and is set on building key partnerships across the world.

Ailsa Beck

Impact Week Leader - Scotland

Impact Family

Bex Watson

Delivery Team
The only team member to have actually won an Impact Marathon (twice!)
Bex arrived into the Impact Marathon fold through participating in Nepal, then volunteering in Guatemala and now coming on board to build our amazing Impact Runner community. A true running evangelist, crossing the finish line of her first and running straight into my best friends arms is still was one of the best feelings she has ever known

Mark Maughan

Delivery Team
Joining us from the team that created the Sierra Leone Marathon, this man is a veritable expert at delivering marathons in extraordinary and challenging places.
With a bucket load of marathon planning experience, Mark is passionate about traveling, exploring and running. Ever communicative, professional and a demon negotiator, he handles any curveball with consummate ease and an ever present smile, and always has a spare Sunderland shirt to sweeten the deal!

Megan Mason

Delivery Team
Having joined Impact’s first ever race in Nepal in 2016, Megan’s love affair with Impact Marathons is the second longest in the Impact team (after our illustrious leader).
She then volunteered with us in Kenya in 2018 and returns as co-race director for Nepal 2019. Working in fitness and previously opening a women’s-only gym in Saudi Arabia, Megan’s passion is the empowerment of women through sport and she brings her infectious enthusiasm for fitness everywhere she goes. If you need anyone to remind you how awesome you are for even attempting an Impact Week & Impact Marathon, she’s your girl.

Joe Rios

Team Canada & Growth Officer
By day, Joe is a passionate sales leader at Export Development Canada. In his spare time, Joe’s a fitness instructor and an ultra-marathoner.
In 2015, Joe completed a marathon on all 7 continents, even before heading out to Nepal for our first ever race. He returned for races in Guatemala and Malawi, leading his own ‘Team Canada’ at both. He has infectious energy and enthusiasm for inspiring others to do good while challenging themselve

Stories Team

Adam Dickens

Photographer
Adam turned up in the Impact Family, completely by chance, at our Kenya race in 2017 and has been a fixture of our Impact Experience ever since.
With a background in charity photography around the world and his own organisation up-skilling, equipping and employing talented storytellers across the globe. Adam epitomises what makes Impact so special and has taken the time to really understand what it is that makes our experiences unique, capturing moments with a deep-rooted care for the story. In return, he has been inspired by our Impact Runners and has been on a dramatic fitness journey...maybe one day, we'll be shooting him crossing that famous Impact finish line

Tanya Raab

Photographer
Possibly the best trail runner in all of Team Impact, Tanya understands the sport, obsesses over the sport and knows exactly how to bring a race to life. And, if you want shots from deep into a technical course, you call Tanya.
Tanya first shot for Impact in our infamous Kenya race, 2018 where a flash hailstorm led to a truly dramatic day on the trails. Tanya joined us in Nepal in 2019, not only for our race week but in exploring our new village and capturing the people that make this such an thrilling development.

Daniel Casia

Videographer
At our Guatemala race in 2019, Daniel was dropped into a pitch black lava field at 4am, with Nick begging him to "just trust me!", with only one previous meeting to build off...Daniel produced the most watched video in Impact history...
But capturing a race day is just the starting point, Daniel is a story-teller to the core and lights up at the opportunity to tell stories of his country and of the organisations driving change. In 2020, we worked on a new concept to take the Impact content to a new level and we can't wait to see what else we can achieve together

Samdup Gurung

Videographer
Samdup began working with Impact at the end of 2019 as we created our new experience deep in the foothills of Nepal. His professional, calm and methodical approach was matched only by the beautiful intimacy of what he produced.
His own life was reflected in the lives of the beneficiaries of our Batase projects and he saw, in Impact, the opportunity to tell that story. He is studying and building towards a career in video production but his talent is already inspiring us all. And, having been on the podium at the Everest Marathon, he can teach us all a thing or two out on the trails

Global Team

Urgen Lama

Nepal
The Managing Director of Childreach Nepal has been with Impact Marathon since the very beginning
Since first meeting Nick in 2015, Urgen has believed in the long-term vision of Impact. He is a keen proponent of seeing charities combining their skills and passions into a more cohesive and communal approach. He not only has an eye for how to leverage the Impact platform to drive change in Nepal - he is also the man who can pull rabbits out of hats when we need them most.

Pablo Jelkman

Guatemala
Pablo joined our first Guatemala experience as a photographer in 2018 and since then has found himself more and more involved in every single aspect of the event.
Pablo is a qualified volcano trekking and mountain bike guide with knowledge of more trails than you'll ever need to experience the best of the country. Bilingual to a point people even question if he is actually Guatemalan and seems to know anyone who is anyone in the country. Whether in Antigua, or working remotely, he is invaluable and can keep things moving even from afar.

Moataz Mukhaimer

Jordan

Manoj Karki

Nepal
In 4 years of working with Manoj, we are still yet to find a skill he doesn't have. From diplomacy, to construction, to running, to managing the famous bonfire at the Sunset Bar, he is the metronome that keeps the entire week ticking.
Manoj is one of the most popular members of Team Impact, with his insane work ethic, unstoppable determination and natural charisma. He epitomises our team motto that "there's always a solution" and we can't imagine a Nepal Impact experience without him.