Team Bios

Jeff hails from Rhondda Cynon Taff and spent many a time holidaying in Pembrokeshire before moving to the area over 10 years ago. He was one of the few original competitors in the early Man-up Events and in 2016 came on board as a lead on many of our activities. Jeff has spent a life time as an adventure sports man, travelling the World to compete in or tackle some of the global icon events such as Snowboarding in Colorado, Motor Crossing in Canada and Surfing in Hawaii. The past couple of years has seen Jeff developing his cycling and compete in the Ironman Wales in 2015 and 2016. His other great passions and skills lie in Kite Surfing, Kayaking and anything with an engine. On top of this Jeff is also a keen salsa dancer (a bit of a mover in fact!) and he is not adverse to dressing up for a party! But like the rest of the instructors, Jeff is a peoples person, a great communicator and motivator and uses his vast experience and knowledge to benefit others.

Born and bred within the St Davids Peninsular, with his first language being Welsh,  Carwyn is a local self employed builder who knows the area and community as good as anyone. He, along with Fintan was the founder member of Man-Up UK and has played an important and vital part in all the events since the first ever Whitesands Challenge. As an Ex – Paratrooper, Carwyn is the original “Mr Fit” having spent a life time of training hard.  In his competitive sporting days he was a very accomplished cross country/steeple chase runner and a half decent rugby player! Carwyn’s easy going attitude and life experience makes him a great motivator for others and his military background with one of the top infantry regiments in the World adds another dimension to the training regime and techniques that we use. It is also worth noting that back in the day Carwyn held the Parachute Regiments assault course record – no mean feat for a Regiment that prides itself on being the fittest!

Rhys is the Managing Director of Voyages of Discovery who supply exhilarating and educational boat trips on their own purpose-built ribs around the wildlife rich Ramsey Island and St Brides Bay. The Company his late father John started from modest beginnings some 25 years ago has been turned into a thriving must-do attraction. Rhys and Voyages of Discovery work in close partnership with Man-Up UK. What makes this relationship  work so well is Rhys’s willingness to think outside the box and provide the customer with exactly what they want. For a young man Rhys has an outstanding work ethic and a great sense of community. He is the First XV rugby captain at St Davids RFC, a committee member of the club and the sponsor of many local and national charity events. He is also known to turn out and take on a few of the Man-Up events. For Rhys, as he has youth on his side, training is kept to a minimum but he is a regular at the Whitesands Challenge and Man-Up in the Mud events. He even fought in our Brawl in Berea Charity Boxing Match.