Sam Rutherford Expedition leader and team mechanic Sam was born on the 5th March 1972, in Alexandria, Scotland. He was initially educated in Scotland and the Lake District, before going to Mount House School in Devon, and then on to Sherborne School in Dorset. Completing A-Levels in 1990, Sam began training to be an Army Officer at Sandhurst in September of that year and was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Army Air Corps in August 1991. He served as a helicopter pilot in Germany, Northern Ireland and Central America until leaving as a Captain in April 1998. Since then, organising the expedition has been a full time occupation. Confirming the crew was one of his overriding considerations, and the eventual team came about after a number of changes. All those on the expedition are 'friends of friends', but with the intense preparations over the planning months, firm friendships are being forged within the group. It is a process that will continue and strengthen the team for the inevitable hardships ahead. Amongst Sam's interests are a love of travel and foreign languages, mountaineering and trekking, flying, competitive skiing and anything different and exciting. All this particular trip lacks at present is the skiing aspect, although he is still holding out hope of claiming Mt. Ararat, at 16,945ft, and telemarking down from the summit. An avid reader, he will be attempting to write his first book, about the London to Sydney Overland Expedition, in 1999. As well as the team leader, he is also 'team scribe'. Sam lives in Winchester in the south of England with his mother, Fleur, and his younger sister, Kim. Sam's father was in the Navy until his early death in June 1997 from cancer. Shortly before then, he was extremely well looked after at Trinity Hospice, and it is for that reason that Sam is hoping to raise money for Trinity at the same time as attempting this world first. After arriving in Australia in March 1999, he will have the month of April to relax and prepare for 'Hotfooting Australia', an expedition crossing the continent from Adelaide to Darwin by camel, for which he is running the support team. Then, toward November 1999, the rest of the world beckons. Any job offers out there?!