Katie and Alice are both working at Audley Travel, Alice based in Witney in the UK, and Katie in the Boston office, US. Taking on the challenge of the Lewa Marathon is something they are both extremely excited about and training has begun in earnest on both sides of the Atlantic!  

But, first of all, why the Tusk Trust? It is easy for us to see and appreciate what a positive and instrumental influence this charity is having upon not only conserving the wildlife but also helping and supporting the communities that live in Africa. Tusk has helped set up and support numerous projects all over Africa and they continue to highlight the importance of involving local communities in the conservation of Africa's wildlife. We have been so inspired by their work and we can't wait to contribute to the positive influence that they have on this vast and incredible continent. 

Katie and Alice have their own reasons for taking part and have both taken on incredible challenges in the past too. 

Katie witnessed the harrowing events of the Boston Marathon bombing unfold in 2013 and vowed she would run her first marathon the following year. The marathon took on an entire new meaning when a dear friend from university in London was diagnosed with cancer  and was being treated at the hospital that she coincidentally chose to support for the event.  Preparation for her first marathon was pretty unconventional – being on a gap year between jobs she found herself training in the parks of New York City, mountains of Utah, through the streets of Cairo and doing laps around the British Virgin Islands. By race day, she had raised over $12,000 for Cancer.  Katie was then approached by a mother in New York whose seven year old daughter was battling cancer. She wanted to show her daughter she too could take on a challenge and she asked Katie to train and run the New York City Marathon with her. This time around, Katie fund raised for Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital and their team of seven raised $110,000 for pediatric cancer. Training for New York really began just after Katie started her career at Audley Travel and on a jam packed FAM trip she found herself running in Thailand, Borneo and then in the English Countryside. Now preparing to run her third marathon in the Lewa Conservancy in Kenya Katie is taking on the snowy streets of Boston and thinks that this is just the challenge and adventure that she needs to continue the momentum. 

Alice has always been in the search for the next challenge to embark on and Lewa Marathon seemed to fit the bill. Having traveled a lot and always enjoyed doing endurance events abroad,  Alice thinks it is a great way to mix with the locals and you realise that where ever you are in the world, whatever your background, you will have something in common with the person next to you! Having done the Tokyo and Mount Fuji marathon, both being great for their own reasons, she can only imagine how spectacular the Lewa marathon is going to be even if it is more challenging – altitude and humidity will make it extremely challenging, this we don’t doubt.