Ian Aitchison, Team Leader
Ian was born into a traditional farming family. Known from an early age as "Mr Why" - due to his desire to always know the answer - he has seldom followed convention. Though gaining his Royal Naval Observer's wings, he didn't fly the nest and moved into communications and strategic planning with the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, supporting UK grain. A jack of all trades, Ian has travelled through eastern and southern Africa in an overland truck, driven tractors in North America and combine harvesters in Australia and hung out off helicopters in Cornwall! He is particularly keen to understand the hopes and aspirations of young people in rural agricultural cropping communities. Do young rural folk look forward to becoming farmers, do they do it because it is expected of them or do they long to run off to the city? Ian dreamt up the trip as a means of answering these questions while transporting his beloved Range-Rover to Australia
Team Members
Will Spragg, who joined the team by answering Ian's ad on the Internet, has always longed to see life outside the "super-stars" commuter belt south of Manchester where he lives. As a trained Land-Rover mechanic, Will is going to be vital to keeping the show on the road, carrying a wide range of tools and spare parts in his own Land-Rover. A passionate mechanic, he has been fixing things for many years - ever since starting out on lawn-mowers and various assortment of motor-bikes and Go-karts.
Rob Krenn, an Austrian who now spends most of his time in Australia, also responded to the Internet ad. He has many overland expedition miles under his belt, having spent the past 17 years on the road. Latterly, he has lead 4x4 camping tours in Australia, though in the past has driven from Cape Town in South Africa to Wick in the North of Scotland - having to miss out the wars in Sudan. He loves outdoor activities such as climbing and hiking and is keen to lead the expedition towards more upland areas.
Alex Granström joined the team after seeing Ian's desperate plea on the Internet for a fourth adventurer after Ruth dropped out due to injury. The strength of the initial meeting was enough for her to give up her job as a business analyst the next day. Alex studied Geography at Manchester University and hopes to be able to at least identify some of the countries she studied at University when the Perth2Perth team crosses them. She is fairly well travelled, having lived in several countries and visited far-flung places from India to South Africa. She is keen to notch up a few more exotic locations and learn more about their cultures.
Ruth Miller is a marketer by training and profession, has experience of city broking, but has long been fascinated by cultural similarities and differences across nations. Working as the Marketing Manager for Africa for a multinational soft drinks company allowed her to mix business with pleasure, visiting both local bottling plants and game reserves wherever possible. Ruth is keen to learn more about the domestic lifestyles and cultures in the countries visited, though her key role will be to keep a check on Ian's wilder ideas. She has had experience of this since meeting Ian on a marketing course. Regrettably, injury has forced Ruth to remain behind as the home support leader and so will be badgering us for news to pass on to our friends.
