The Apex team

The Apex Challenge is organised by a team of three who lead a Scout Active Support Unit. It is registered as a charity but is also part of the Scout Association and follows its rules and guidelines.

Charity Trustees

Matt Richards - Event Director

Matt's the unit manager of the Apex Challenge Scout Active Support unit and holds a number of outdoor instructing qualifications and is a full member of the Mountain Leader Training Association. He enjoys walking and climbing and by profession works as a TV producer in Leeds.

David Pape - Event Organiser

Dave's the team's technical guru and develops the event's computerised scoring systems. Like Matt he was a Scout while growing up in Sheffield. He now works as a software engineer in Leeds.

James Webster - Event Organiser

James looks after our website and printed material. Organising Apex was his first taste of Scouting and he now wishes he'd joined as a child! In his spare time he's a TV news presenter in the Channel Islands.

The rest of the Apex team

Richard Garrett - Technical Manager

Richard uses his skills as a broadcast engineer to manage the event's technical requirements including power, lighting, sound and computer networking, assisted by the rest of the tech team, seen below.

The Apex Tech Team

L-R: Rob Batley, Ben Stevenson, Richard Hollingworth, Richard Garrett, Mike Sharp, Tom Smith, Matt Atkinson, James Brown.

Bob Teasdale - Head of Special Projects

Bob helps to plan activities for both of our events, helping to come up with new and exciting challenges to test our teams to the limit.

The Apex Tech Team

The Apex Special Projects Team

L-R: Will Platts, Dave Platts, John Batley, Fran Glew, Phil Bennett, Tim Burt, Dom Sharpe, Bob Teasdale, Mike Squires and Martin Bennett (not pictured).

Lee Plummer - Apex Cafe Manager

Using his experience as a chef, Lee works with the rest of our catering team in the Apex Cafe (seen below) to plan all our menus and ensure everyone's in place to make it happen.

The Apex Cafe Team

L-R: Andrew Plummer, Maria Mahon, Marion Parkinson, Lee Plummer, Sara Davidson-Cowen, Rachel Edwards, Sarah Davidson-Cowen, John Parkinson, Rob Godfrey, Sian Sheeran.

Andy Pagett - Event Photographer

Andy covers as many miles as most of the teams, if not more, not to mention climbing up trees and scrambling through bushes to capture the best of the action with his camera.

Phillip Norton - Video Producer

Phillip has been filming our events for several years now and often works long into the night editing the footage together. In his spare time he's a video journalist with the BBC.

Stewart Butler - Communications & First Aid Team

Stewart leads our communications team (seen below) who keep all the Apex organisers in touch by radio throughout the event area. His team is also available for first aid throughout the weekend.

The Apex Cafe Team

The Apex Communications & First Aid Team

L-R: Chris Plant, Susan Wragg, Kristian Lucas, Stewart Butler, Marcus Jenkinson, Tim Hague, Will Wells, Jo Alflat, Ricky Harrison.

Ricky Harrison - Event Paramedic

Ricky is the Apex Challenge's resident paramedic and works alongside the rest of the first aid team to offer medical support at the events.

Andrew Billington - Event Assistant

Andrew's one of the team helping out in event centre throughout the weekend. One minute he might be helping sign teams in, then he'll be out running errands to and from the activity bases.

Darrell Coates - Event Assistant

Darrell's been a member of the team since the very start and can often be found helping coordinate the activities, or racing around in the early morning putting out or collecting in the control points!

Ian Brannan - Voiceovers

You might not recognise his face but you'll certainly know his voice. Ian is one of the voices you'll hear throughout out events doing the voiceovers. By trade he's a radio presenter in Yorkshire.

Luisse Whiting - Voiceovers

Another person you'll recognise more by the sound of her voice than from her face is Luisse who's the second of our voiceover team! She works as a radio presenter.

Jon Mitchell - Weather forecaster

You'll often see Jon Mitchell on video at the start of our events giving us an exclusive Apex Challenge weather forecast. He is the weather presenter for ITV Yorkshire.

Event assistants:

Steve Winks, Emma Hunter, Odette Smyth, Jez Ince, Tony Casson, Russ Hirst, Ben Sheldon, Isabelle Handley, Dom Sharp, Dave Scott, Sam Turnbull.

Activity managers:

Owen Driskell, Ruth Bullivant-Layton, Dave Stern, Mark Yates, Kevin Welborn, Carolyn Welborn, Simon Atha, Martyn Foster, Andrew Phipps, Jason Stubbs, Sian Stockham, Nick Bryan, Edward Watchorn, Nikki Hopkins, Gaz Hopkins, David Yates, Gordon Parkinson, Andrew Melleney, Andrew Ward, Amanda Ward, Dave Mott, Brian Robinson, Richard Galliford, Jake Carpenter, Richard Oliver, Simon Harrison, Duncan Hocking, Julie Driskell, Graham Harrop, Mark Rothery, Bev Rothery, Sue Raffo, Tom Spreyer, Jim Wild, Ben Abell, Colin James, Andy Jackson, John Skipper, Ross Masters, Steve Hall, Tom Hague, Hayley Toseland, David Havenhand, Jason Stubbs, Phillip Gillingham, Nigel Lee, Lee Farrow, Julie Wright, Duncan Blakeley, Danny Levick, Phillip Norton, Jen Lowthrop, Brian Robinson, Chris Spencer, Ian Cook, Tony Richardson.