Meet the Trails & Roots Team 

Heather Gordon is a plant-powered trail runner, entrepreneur & ever-curious soul 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. She lives a nomadic life and can often be found living in little-known corners of the world! During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Heather and Zandy fused their love of cooking and running and created a plant-based cookbook - Cooking on the Run! Check it out here! 
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 10 Boston Marathons. As a coach, his goal is to help each athlete reach their potential, and then go a little further, while minimizing injuries. He loves cats and photography, and played drums for the punk rock band Mañana Couch.
Join Zandy on the trails at our Madeira and Chamonix Trail Camps!
Kara Folkerts  is a plant-powered trail & ultra-running guide, responsible travel specialist, and international yoga teacher. While originally from Canada, she lives a very nomadic life finding her sense of home in various places across the globe. Over the years, Kara has led hundreds of clients on multi-day trail running camps, eco-tourism adventures, and yoga retreats. She strives for a life full of curiosity, mindful travel, outdoor movement, sustainability, and holistic health - and ultimately desires to share this joy with others! 
Lily Toomey is a plant-based chef who spent years working as the Sous Chef at Cornucopia, Dublin’s oldest vegan and vegetarian restaurant, where she was responsible for developing new, innovative, delicious plant-based recipes. She has catered a range of different food events and has taught plant-based cooking both in Ireland and abroad.
​For Lily, food is a powerful way to connect with people and the planet. Her passion for plant-based food, food justice and environmentalism has led her to pursue a PhD in environmental history. She currently balances academia alongside time in Wild Sage Bakery's kitchen, creating mouth-watering, plant-based treats & baked goods!
Experience Lily's cooking at our Madeira and Chamonix Trail Camps! 
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 10th place at the 2019 World Mountain Long Distance Championships,
5th place at 2019 UTMB OCC, 2nd place at 2022 Val d'Aran by UTMB 55km & a Top 20 finish at 2022 UTMB CCC.
Join Emily on the trails at our Chamonix Trail Camp!
Abby Hall is a professional trail and ultrarunner for adidas TERREX. After 9 years as a graphic designer, she quit her job in 2021 to run full-time, and since has been on international podiums at races like:
1st at Transvulcania (2022),
2nd at UTMB CCC (2021), 3rd at UTMB CCC (2022),
2nd at Transgrancanaria (2022) & 2nd at Canyons 100k (2021).
Abby has been vegan for almost a decade--when she's not on the trail, she's next happiest in the kitchen. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona (USA) with her husband Cordis. When they're not rooted down at home or in the middle of an overly-ambitious DIY project, the two of them love getting out for long adventures in their campervan across the American West.
Join Abby on the trails at our Trail Camp Thailand!