Team
The Magazine Editor
ROISIN FINLAY, in her own words, is no expert adventurer or hardcore adrenalin junkie.
But she has hiked a few trails, become competent-ish on a snowboard, been through the spin cycle a few times in her efforts to surf and travelled lots.
It might not always look too pretty but she’ll give most things a go. Despite her lack of expertise she finds herself in the position of having the dream job, combining writing with travel and the great outdoors.
As a director, she is a reluctant corporate type and would prefer to have business meetings after a surf session, or on a hike, or not at all.
The Sales and Marketing Type
VANESSA LAWRENSON has an undiagnosed condition which gives her a crippling interest in almost everything.
Currently obsessed with social media and filmmaking, she was equally as obsessive about adventure racing last year and rowing the year before that.
She is thanking her lucky stars to be working for a company like Outsider which seems to reward obsessively interested behaviour. 10 years in IBM almost qualifies her as a geek and she enjoys the media, marketing and digital mix which her role as a director of a small adventure media company seems to bring.
The PR and Events Specialist
HEATHER Irvine’s first job with Outsider was actually as a model, a profession she sandwiched between a degree at Trinity College, two seasons managing Alpine ski chalets, a post graduate diploma in public relations and a brief spell trying to flog overpriced houses in London! These days Heather feels more comfortable as part of the editorial team. She is certainly a woman of action and has immersed herself in the Outsider life since coming on board. With a sporting background previously centred around hockey pitches and swimming pools, Heather’s life has headed distinctly off road since joining the Outsider gang. Always up for a challenge, she now derives immense pleasure from smashing through waves and hauling up hills in triathlons and adventure races.
Olly O’Neil – The Art Guy
As the fat kid no-one wanted on their football team, Olly O’Neill feels a bit of a phoney to be listed alongside the fitness gurus and adrenaline junkies that make up the rest of the Outsider team. Still, you don’t need to be Johnny Triathlon to design a magazine. The kind of endurance required to remain sane and cogent at three in the morning the night before a print deadline is of a different kind entirely.
With over ten years’ experience laying out some of Ireland’s coolest print titles including dSIDE, Mongrel and The Phoenix, Olly has also dipped his toe in the world of video production and editing.
The trauma of his sedentary younger days now a distant memory, Olly is not adverse to the odd bit of physical endeavour. In recent years he’s become something a cycling evangelist, a fair-weather jogger and Ireland’s slowest swimmer. He is happiest in the snowy heights of the Alps and once jumped out of a moving plane for fun.
The Mountain Biker
BEN MARCHANT is Outsider’s biking editor and has been mucking around on mountain bikes for 17 years. A career in bar management allowed him free reign to bike and rock climb during daylight hours but a change in direction has seen him combine a passion for extreme sports and journalism with a university career. He has produced a thesis on mountain biking in Ireland and is currently pursuing a PhD in entrepreneurship and adventure tourism.
Ben has also been busy writing for Outsider and setting up his own website (www.spoke.ie), doing the arduous task of reviewing all the latest MTB gear. When not on his favourite trails he can be found whispering to his baby son about the merits of XTR over XT and this suspension design over that. Sod’s law says the kid will be into football.
The one who does the maths
GAVIN LYONS is seriously considering becoming a professional barefoot water skier because his debut was so good. He thinks that this talent ties in nicely with his other skills as a writer, film producer, accountant and general all ’round good egg. While he has years of experience in magazine publishing, he never realised that it could be so much fun until he joined the Outsider team. A reluctant athlete, Gavin only exercises because he is too short to be fat and lacks the willpower to diet. September was a busy month when he lost both his adventure race and triathlon virginities. He is now contemplating either the Sea2Summit race in Westport or the New York marathon. Decisions, decisions. When not competing in adventure races, triathlons and marathons, you will find him hiding from his children in his shed.
The Surf Guru
RICHIE FITZGERALD – big waver surfer and star of epic Irish surf movie ‘Waveriders’ – recently signed up to become Outsider’s surf editor, which we think is quite a coup! At this stage, he probably has salt water running in his veins having been involved in every aspect of surfing you can think of for over 25 years, both at home and abroad. But our surfer dude isn’t just one dimensional. His other interests include Star Wars, spear fishing and soccer (he’s a passionate Chelsea man).
When he’s not dropping into monster waves or trawling the globe looking for them, you can find him ripping up his home break – the Peak in Bundoran – and imparting his wave wisdom to intermediate and advanced surfers through his recently formed surf academy www.surfcoachireland.ie. Richie will be keeping us up to date on all the big surfing scoops over the next while and promises to keep his North West and Donegal bias to a minimum. Well maybe toned down a bit anyway.
The Gear Nerd
KIERAN CREEVY, our gear editor, was recommended to us as a certifiable gear nerd with a scary amount of knowledge crammed in his head.
Thankfully he’s also amassed considerable practical skills in the outdoors, having worked for many years as an instructor in adventure centres and as an International Mountain Leader in Europe and Africa.
Having spent one full winter punishing his knees in the Alps in the search for powder he’s developed the unnerving habit of spouting French at the least sign of provocation. Just don’t ask him to detail what the HH and RET of various waterproof and breathable fabrics are?
The Mountain Man
DECLAN CUNNINGHAM, Outsider’s mountaineering editor, hails from Kerry where he picked up the walking and climbing bug. When he’s not Out ‘n’ About for Outsider, he’s got a few other irons in the fire.
He is a safety trainer with Industrial Safety and Rescue Techniques (ISRT) so if he’s not hiking or climbing for fun you’ll find him up a mast teaching people how not to fall off. He also runs Ascents Of Adventure where he organises and leads treks to high altitude peaks. Declan holds the Mountain Leader and Rock Climbing Leader awards and is also a member of the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team. Basically, he’s a level-headed lover of the vertical who does all his own stunts!
The Triathlon Guru
ADAM KELLY is our triathlon editor. Hailing from the hills of Co Wicklow, where he works as a personal trainer and life coach, he has been competing in triathlon for over eight years and loves it more and more.
Seven years ago Adam started Zest Fitness Studio where he promotes gradual and realistic lifestyle changes and tries to lead by example. If he gets any spare time outside of swimming, biking, running and training others, he can be seen trying to surf in Strandhill, even if there are no waves. He also loves to snowboard, and did it for fun, until earlier this year when he successfully climbed Mont Blanc and boarded off the summit. Adam also suffers from an addiction to the Olympics and specialises in novel ways to get to them having travelled overland to both Athens and Beijing. London should be a doddle so!
The Landscape Photographer
PETER MCCABE was born in Belfast and is a self-taught landscape photographer. He is a happy man when he’s amongst nature and her elements. His imaginative use of colour and strong, yet simple, composition combine to create a spirit of contemplation and appreciation.
His determination to capture the perfect moment has seen him wait for hours and in some cases camp at a location to capture that alluring moment when all of nature’s elements combine to capture the wild rugged beauty that is the Irish landscape. It’s not just us that like Pete’s work. His images have been published both nationally and internationally, and have been used by the ESB, Bord Fáilte and Photography Monthly.
The Tech Geek
AIDAN SMYTH is Outsider’s designer/developer and web video expert. He is also our freelance webmaster and general all-round tech nerd. When not on his surfboard, he has no problem with full frontal nerdity and is rarely happier than when he is tinkering with new web technology. He studied design communications at college and went on to do a degree in interactive media before joining the Outsider team. His ever-increasing list of technical skills includes Photoshop, CS3, Dreamweaver, CMSs, Flash Video and Flash. He enjoys coding in PHP, CSS and HTML.
The Director of Photography
TORQUIL FLEMING -BOYD was born in Glasgow in 1966 and started making tea on various film sets in 1983. He worked his way up through the camera department ranks to become a Director of Photography in 1996.
A youthful 43, he frequently gets mistaken for a runner on set. Rumours are of a picture of Dorian Grey in the attic. He is very proud of his motion picture steadicam.
As well as filming motion pictures, commercials and music videos, he has spent considerable time covering war zones throughout the world and has photographed most extreme sports, extreme behaviour and some extreme fashion! He still makes an excellent cup of tea.
The New Media Girl
MIRIAM FAYNE is a graduate of media studies at NUI Maynooth and an aspiring cameraperson, photographer and filmmaker. Miriam has an innate fear of all highlands, lowlands and coastal areas after growing up in Offaly in the middle of the Bog of Allen.
In terms of her adventure credentials, she has brandished cameras at adventure racers and was the last person to have photographed model Glenda Gilson before she disappeared off across a valley in Kerry on a zip wire. She is often found with her head in an edit suite and is fast becoming the digital media expert in Outsider. Often she asks herself how she ended up in here when her true calling is fashion and art, and is still being teased in the office for asking, “What is hiking boots?”
