Event Director Samantha Fanshawe has something of a natural flair for being a citizen of the planet. She was born to British parents in Peru, and went to school in Pakistan for a few years before the age of 11.

After graduating from the University of Leeds with a joint honours degree in Maths and Biology she took some time out to see the world including working in Sydney, Australia, before returning to the United Kingdom for two years in business development of corporate clients in the recruitment industry. She was then transferred to Singapore with the same company for a regional management role before moving to Penang in Malaysia and then Hong Kong.

In 2018, Sam left Asia to return to her home country of the United Kingdom where she continues working for RacingThePlanet.

Sam is an all-round sportswoman and keen runner who also enjoys hiking, horse riding, yoga and mountain biking. It was during her 16 years working in Asia that she started taking running a bit more seriously, starting with more than a dozen half-marathons, and then completing the Singapore Marathon, triathlons including an 70.3 Ironman, adventure races and ultramarathons such as the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker, the Gobi March (China), Hong Kong 100, and Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset.

Sam volunteered at the Gobi March in 2005 when it was held in the Turpan Basin in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of far western China. Despite it being the hottest event on record, she fell in love with the spirit of RacingThePlanet and soon came on board as a staff member.

Since she started working for RacingThePlanet in 2008, Sam has been to more than 30 RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts events in a management capacity.