2024 Committee
On 6 December 2023, an Interim Committee was voted in to stand for the next 12 months. This committee will actively work on building this new Association. In addition to the people elected into committee roles, we are fortunate to have a number of other people with specific interests and skills that will give assistance with progressing and completing specific tasks during this year.
Role Name Country Chairperson Cormac MacDonnell Ireland Operations Officer Marijn Edelenbosch Netherlands General Administrator Lisa de Speville South Africa Membership Officer Marek Navratil Czech Republic with support from Warley Costa Brazil Communications Officer Alen Pujol Uruguay Finance Officer Adrian Crane USA Marketing & Media Officers Samuel Eloy, John Harris Brazil & USA Task group assistants Damon de Boor United Kingdom Kim Beckinsale Australia Lars Bukkehave Denmark Alexandre Provost Canada Romy Viale France Clément Valla France Ross Phillips United Kingdom
Cormac MacDonnell is from Ireland where he regularly participates in events. Cormac has long worked in sport Ireland and he brings his experience and expertise from working with national and international structures to our IARA team.
Marijn Edelenbosch is from the Netherlands. He brings his extensive experience in project management to the operations side of IARA.
Lisa de Speville is from South Africa. She started racing in 1999 and has been very involved in AR media for more than 20 years.
Marek Navratil is from the Czech Republic. He is currently deployed outside of his home country. His role in the Membership task group will kick in mid-year.
Warley Costa is from Brazil. Warley has an MSc in Supply Chain Management and an MBA in Sports Management & Marketing, and he brings these skills to our team. Warley has been in adventure racing since 2006.
Alen Pujol is from Uruguay. He has been racing since 2007. Alen is very involved in youth development in Uruguay and is also enjoying more media activities.
Although he speaks with an English accent, Adrian Crane lives in the USA. He is currently very involved in the rules and referee elements of Adventure Racing.
Kati Vehmas is from Finland and she enjoys competing in Adventure Races throughout Europe. As the CEO of a marketing company, Kati brings many years of experience to the media and marketing aspects of IARA.
Samuel Eloy is from Brazil. He is integrally involved in events in South America on the media and videography side, as well as being a regular participant.
Dana Odvody is from Czech Republic. As well as being a participant, she has also been a Race Director for 20 years. She brings her event organising and business skills to our IARA team.
John Harris is from Minnesota, USA. He is our IT guy and has been key in the setup of IARA’s domain, website and email. John is a regular AR participant and is also a Race Director.
Damon de Boor, an ex-South African, lives in the UK where he organises and participates in events. Although he does not have an official committee position, Damon was part of the working group that lead to the formation of IARA and he assists on task groups.
Kim Beckinsale is from Australia. She is a regular competitor who also loves bike touring. Kim has decades of experience in teaching, school sport and youth development across disciplines. While Kim does not have an official committee position, she is involved with task groups and her many years of experience will be called upon for our work in youth Adventure Racing.
Lars Bukkehave is from Denmark. He has been racing internationally for many years and was key in the formation of the Dansk Adventure Racing Union. Although Lars does not have an official committee position, he brings his experience and expertise to the task teams.
Canadian Alex Provost has been racing since 2000 and competing in events around the world. He was involved with the creation of the Canadian Adventure Racing Association. Alex doesn’t have an official IARA committee position but he is involved with task groups where we are fortunate to benefit from his experience.
Romy Viale joins us from France where he is involved with their national organisation. Romy is an assistant to the committee, jumping in with task group projects.
Clément Valla lives in France. He joins our team of task group assistants but with the special task of creating IARA’s environmental policy.
Ross Phillips lives in England. He is an assistant to the task groups, being available to help with projects throughout the year.