Heather Gordon is a plant-powered trail runner, entrepreneur & adventurer from Ireland. After completing races in some of the most beautiful parts of the world, including the Atacama Desert, Mozambique & Costa Rica, Heather established Trails & Roots to combine her passions of adventure, being immersed in new cultures and connecting with people from diverse backgrounds.
Heather balances Trails & Roots with a variety of other pursuits, including keynote speaking. She has spoken at Strava HQ in San Francisco as well as at numerous events in Ireland, where she highlights how lessons from ultrarunning can be applied to business, leadership, and professional life. (see here>>>)
The majority of her year is spent on behind-the-scenes admin and organisation, making Trail Camps a reality. So Heather makes sure she is at every single Trail Camp, as adventuring on the trails with the Campers is the best part of the job! 

Zandy Mangold is a New York City based runner and coach who loves the challenge of running fast on any surface at any distance. His running resumé includes victories at the Atacama Crossing stage-race and the Keys 100 mile race, finishes at Badwater, Spartathlon and Western States and 11 Boston Marathons. 
As a coach his goal is to help each athlete reach their maximum potential, while minimizing injuries and developing a life long relationship with running.
In addition to all things running, Zandy loves creating healthy, plant-based cuisine and playing the drums for Mañana Couch.
Join Zandy on the trails at Trail Camp Madeira!

​Lily Toomey  is an environmental historian and vegan chef from Ireland. Through her research and culinary practice, she is working towards imagined futures of sustainable food production and consumption, and more equitable human-nature relationships.
For Lily, food is a powerful way to connect with people and the planet. After spending many years working at Cornucopia, Dublin’s longest serving vegan and vegetarian restaurant, she now concentrates her skills on catering, cooking workshops, and designing unique, locally-informed, and nourishing menus for Trails and Roots.
In 2025, she completed her PhD on the history of Ireland’s peatlands and continues to pursue work situated at the intersections of community and climate action.
Experience Lily's cooking at Trail Camp Madeira and Trail Camp Georgia!

​Greta Fuso is a plant-based chef with a deep passion for creating food that is nourishing, sustainable, and full of flavour.
Originally from Italy, she draws inspiration from her culinary roots and a strong respect for quality, always working with the freshest and most authentic ingredients. She has been working for many years as Chef de Partie at Cornucopia, Dublin’s oldest vegetarian and vegan restaurant, where she has created her own signature dish and developed a house-made vegan cream cheese. Greta’s mission is to show that plant-based cuisine can be vibrant, satisfying, and indulgent, without compromise.
Experience Chef Greta's cuisine at Trail Camp Madeira!

​Melissa Malouff, our Sustainability Expert, is a planet-powered environmentalist and trail runner from Texas who currently lives in the French Alps. After years of running road marathons, she took her feet to the mountains, where she discovered firsthand the effects of climate change on her beloved trails.
Motivated by this experience, Melissa gradually adapted her lifestyle to align with her environmental values, culminating in her decision to pursue a Master's in Environment and Resource Management.
Driven by a profound love for both the environment and running, Melissa is dedicated to sharing her dual passion. Her mission goes beyond inspiring others to explore the great outdoors; she strives to empower individuals to recognise the intrinsic connection between environmental consciousness and the joy of running.

​Emily Schmitz splits her time between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chamonix, France, where she spends as much time as possible in the mountains. She is a runner and coach, and works with athletes of all experience levels, backgrounds, and abilities. She has competed in trail and ultra races around the world, racing everything from short vertical kilometers and sky races to 100km ultra races.  
Emily has an impressive resumé of results, including representing Team USA and achieving 7th place at the 2023 World Mountain Long Trail Championships, 5th place at 2019 UTMB OCC, 2nd place at 2022 Val d'Aran by UTMB 55km, 12th at Western States 2024 &  5th at 2023 UTMB CCC.

 

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