SkyVac Expedition Q & A

Andy and Mark are only a few weeks from their skyVac Expedition Fundraiser. They aim to accomplish 5 gruelling challenges in just 5 days to raise money for worthy causes close to their hearts.

We've been catching up with Andy and Mark to learn more about the challenge, their goals and the charities they are supporting.

Please introduce yourselves:

Andy: I’m Andy Whiting and I’m the Chair and Founder of Spinaclean, which is based in Northampton and is a global leader in high reach cleaning systems.

Mark: And I’m Mark Nice, I’m a director here and I joined Andy at Spinaclean a couple of years after her founded it. We’re mates, but also, together we’ve taken Spinaclean from being simply a couple of guys working in a cowshed together to a global concern. So, I reckon we make a good team!

    Explain a bit more about the challenge you’ve set yourselves:

Mark: We wanted to stretch ourselves this year, try something completely different, and initially we thought we’d try a couple of new activities, some stuff neither of us had ever done before. Things snowballed from there!

Andy: So, it then became us wanting to do 5 challenges in 5 days.

Mark: We’re kayaking across Windermere on day 1, cycling around Coniston TWICE on day 2. Then we’re travelling down to Wales overnight to do whitewater rafting in Snowdonia on Day 3. Day 4 is the world’s fastest zipline and then we’ll climb Snowdon on Day 5 with some friends and family joining us for this last challenge…

Andy: …assuming our legs are still working!

    Sounds a bit daunting. Whose idea was all of this?!

Mark: Well, Andy emailed me one afternoon suggesting that we do something BIG this year and then listing all of these activities we should try out… and I honestly thought he’d been out for a lunchtime drink.

Andy: Well we’re not exactly models of physical fitness, we know that, but that’s what made the challenges appealing. It was a chance to do something different.

Andy:  And once the challenge aspect started growing, it seemed crazy to not try and raise some money for good causes while we’re at it.

    What challenge are you most looking forward to in the Expedition itself?

Andy: The pub at the end!

Mark: 100%... we’ll have earned a drink by the end of this!  No, really, it’s the ziplining for me; minimum effort, maximum thrill!

Andy: Whitewater rafting, I’m really looking forward to the danger element of that.

    Are there any that you’re particularly dreading?

Mark: Now we’ve had a couple of training sessions in the kayak, that!

Andy: Yes! The weather and water conditions can make a big difference – it’s 11 miles across Windermere but if the conditions are wrong, it’ll feel much further.

Mark: 100%

    What do these charities mean to you, personally?

Andy: Having lost so many people to cancer, in my case, my best friend, father in law and my mum, I really want to help in some way. And if our efforts in these challenges can help raise money to contribute to research in prevention, treatment etc. then that’ll make me really happy. Which is why we chose to support CRUK.

And, alongside that, watching my sister and brother-in-law and how hard they’ve worked and continue to work, to raise an autistic non-verbal child (though Sam is now 23!) It’s 24/7 365 days a year.

The challenges they’ve experienced are immense, so to be able to support a local organisation like En-Fold, that offers support and signposting to families on a really local level and have such a huge impact.

    How much are you hoping to raise?

Andy:  We’re being pretty ambitious; we’d like to raise over £5k altogether. We hope that, with the support of our friends, family, colleagues and network of amazing customers and suppliers, that we can hit that target.

    How can people follow your progress or support your charities?

Mark: We’ve got a fundraising page set up at https://justgiving.com/team/skyVac-expedition-2024 so follow there for photos of us falling off things and to donate!