In addition to the founders' official charities, we applaud the efforts of our participants who have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of many wonderful and worthwhile charities. Over 50 charities have benefited from our athletes' participation in the Grand to Grand Ultra since 2012. We list below the charities which will benefit this year. We encourage you to click on the logos to visit their sites and become familiar with these causes.

From the beginning, we wanted our ultra marathon stage races to have as broad an impact as possible. We have witnessed our many alumni use our races as a platform for them to raise funding for causes which mean a lot to them. This is very powerful and inspiring. Over the years, we have chosen charities which have a connection with us. In addition to doing our part to help those less fortunate than ourselves, we would like our charitable giving to inspire others to do the same. We therefore strongly encourage those of you who do not have a commitment to a charity of their own, to join us in our choice of charities, so that we together can have a more meaningful impact on their work.

We currently support two charities which are both located in Kane County, Utah the home of G2G.

Best Friends has kindly permitted the G2G course to pass through their land since 2012.  Visitors can join daily free tours of the sanctuary and see the animals up close.

Kane County Assistance Program is a charity set up in Kanab to provide direct support to local residents in crisis.

The mission statements of both charities are:

Best Friends Animal Society

Our Mission: To end the killing in America's animal shelters and create a time when there are No More Homeless Pets. We do this by building community programs and partnerships all across the nation. We believe that by working together we can Save Them All.

Kane County Youth Coalition

Our Mission: KCYC is a dedicated youth group focused on building an engaged supportive community, centered in healthy prosperous living, free from substance abuse and suicide.

We decided it was important from the start to have a council of Advisors to whom we can draw on for advice and support as we built and grew the Grand to Grand Ultra and then future events into the premier stage races of their kind in the world. Our Advisors are prominent members of the ultra community and have many years of experience in organizing and participating in endurance events globally.
 

RAY ZAHAB

Ray is an established ultra marathoner, and adventurer who uses his athletic career to support initiatives and causes in which he believes.   www.RayZahab.com    www.impossible2Possible.com 

In 2006/7, Ray and two other runners ran the entire width of the Sahara Desert-7500 kms (4600 miles) in 111 days with no rest days and in the process learned of the seriousness of the water crisis in Africa. The run was documented in a film "Running the Sahara" directed by Oscar winner James Moll and narrated by Matt Damon. One of the goals of the film was to raise awareness for the water crisis in Africa. Previous to this expedition Ray had won several international ultra marathons.

Two years after running the Sahara, Ray, and two other Canadians, broke the world speed record for an unsupported expedition by a team to the South Pole, in a time of 33 days, 23 hrs and 55min. Ray has completed 12 major expeditions to date, including an unsupported winter traverse of Lake Baikal, Siberia, an early 2011 run the length of the Atacama Desert – 1200 km in 20 days with minimal daily re-supply, and several i2P Youth Expeditions.

Ray is official Athletic Ambassador for the ONEXONE organization and is a board member of the Ryan's Well Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Canadian Royal Geographical Society. He is the founder of impossible2Possible. 

CLIVE SAFFERY 

Clive Saffery passionately believes that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and he has constantly inspired people to compete to ultra endurance events. He believes that people's lives are changed for the better by entering such events as G2G. Clive's own endurance racing career began in 1967 when he completed a 50 miler in his native England at the tender age of 12.

Since then he has raced in countless countries around the world. He has finished Badwater three times including a top ten place. He has completed multiple 100 milers, dozens of shorter ultras, several expedition length events and a number of adventure races. He has held various records including two current UK Trailwalker records, both set since he turned 50 years old.

Clive has recently retired as CEO of a major international company and although he still considers Hong Kong his home base he has recently bought a house in Sausalito, California from where he hopes to continue competing in ultrarunning events at least until May 2017, the 50th anniversary of his first ultra.

Clive will shortly become the Chairman of a new charity organization that will build schools in Ethiopia.

The Grand to Grand Ultra was conceived to be one of the world’s finest stage footraces with our priority being to allow participants to experience the spectacular beauty of those remote locations while creating an environmentally friendly and sustainable event with the support of the local community.

We will at all times continue to uphold our principles as follows:

For Participants

Host annual events which are considered world class, attract growing numbers of people from across the planet and enable participants to experience an endurance event in a safe and responsible manner while learning about the local culture and history.

For the Environment

Our mission is to create events, which protect the environment while educating participants to build respect for their planet and nature. They will also encourage an appreciation of optimizing limited resources.

For the Local Community

We wish to create sustainable events, which contribute to the local economies and involve the broad commitment of local communities.

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We searched high and low for the most iconic course possible. It was the unique opportunity to organize an event that would stretch from the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, to the summit of the relatively unknown but equally geologically iconic Grand Staircase, that settled the location for G2G.

We bring over 50 years of event management, business building and ultramarathon experience to bear on this unique event.   We have well qualified and experienced staff who round out the management team enabling us to execute the world's premier self-supported stage race.

Tess Geddes

Tess is Operations and Event Director and co-founder of the Grand to Grand Ultra.  She is an experienced sports event organizer and ultramarathon athlete. Tess has organized and managed many high profile sporting events throughout the world in stage adventure racing, tennis and golf.

Tess is also a committed race volunteer. One of her volunteer highlights was her time spent working the alpine events at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia.

Tess loves ultrarunning and has competed in many ultra races, including the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco, the Sahara Race in Egypt, the Atacama Crossing in Chile, the Libyan Challenge (twice), the Desafio al Desierto in Argentina, as well as races in France, the Philippines and the US.

Colin Geddes

Colin is Business & Event Director and co-founder of America’s premier self-supported stage ultra-marathon, the Grand to Grand Ultra. With over 30 years experience in the investment banking and private equity industries, former Managing Director of Deutsche Bank and Founder and Managing Director of ABC Investment Banking, Colin has a wealth of knowledge which he brings to bear for the development of our races. Colin holds an MA Honours (Mathematics and Economics) from the University of Aberdeen and completed the International Management Program, INSEAD and Leadership Development Program, The Wharton School. He has been married to Tess for 30 years and is an avid sportsman. Colin has worked and done business in over 20 countries with much of that time spent in Asia. Colin co-founded G2G back in 2012 and has since focused on continually improving the events year after year.

Josh Mularella

Josh is the Medical Director for the Grand to Grand Ultra.   He is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and the Director of EMS and Prehospital Medicine for Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts.

Josh was a US Navy medic for 6 years prior to medical school. After his residency training in Philadelphia he completed a year-long fellowship in wilderness and expedition medicine at SUNY Upstate in Syracuse, NY followed by the Diploma of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene in Liverpool, UK.

He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). He has published in the fields of EMS and wilderness medicine and continues to be involved in resident/fellow education. Josh has worked at various expeditions and ultra-marathons such as the Southwestern US, the Amazon jungle in Brazil, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. He has been involved with G2G since 2013.

Jeremy Spircoff

Jeremy Spircoff is the Camp Manager for the Grand to Grand Ultra.   Jeremy has invaluable experience of building and resourcing our camps in the desert and other wilderness locations.

Jeremy has worked at G2G races since 2016, originally as one of the camp crew. Jeremy was then promoted to Assistant Camp Manager before becoming Camp Manager in 2018.

Jeremy grew up in Florida and moved to Colorado in 2010 for college. He is an established outdoorsman skilled in multiple outdoor activities including rafting, skiing, hiking 14ers (any mountain over 14,000 ft), mountain biking, climbing (both ice and rock) and canyoneering.

When not at G2G, Jeremy works two seasonal jobs. In the winter, he is a ski patroller at Keystone Ski Resort in Colorado. In the summer, he is a white water rafting guide on the Arkansas River, also in Colorado.

Trevor Davenport

Trevor is the Race Commissioner for the Grand to Grand Ultra. He is a software and technology project management professional who works from home in Gilbert, AZ. Married to wife Carly for 28 years, they have 2 children.
Trevor finished the Arizona Ironman in 2013. In 2014, he ran his first (trail) ultra-marathon and has to date, finished numerous ultras (including seven 100-milers). He also found a passion for coaching other athletes and became RRCA-certified in 2019. In 2020, he founded the San Tan Trail Runners – a non-profit outdoor adventuring community that supports active lifestyles. He is currently President of the Board.
Trevor finished the Grand to Grand Ultra in 2023 and came back in 2024 to volunteer. In 2025, he transitioned into the Race Commissioner role and continues to coach athletes for the Grand to Grand Ultra.

Sonia Mahoney

Sonia is the Volunteer Coordinator and Checkpoint Captains Leader for the Grand to Grand Ultra.   Having spent her formative years in Australia followed by several years in Japan working in public relations, Sonia now lives in Whistler, Canada, sharing her time between her Property Management business, her family, and enjoying life in the mountains.

She is a keen runner, having taken up the sport in 2009 and participating in countless road races. After being introduced to trails and ultra running this became her new passion, and she completed the Grand to Grand Ultra in 2013.

Since then, Sonia has been a dedicated volunteer with G2G, returning every year to be involved in the event. She loves being part of the G2G family, meeting amazing people from all walks of life, and helping them to achieve their goals.

Dave Baird & Susana Young

Dave Baird and Susana Young are the local coordinators for the Grand to Grand Ultra. Both Dave and Susana have been volunteers since the first G2G in 2012. Susana is a Kanab native. She and Dave moved to Kanab 11 years ago. Dave and Susana love to hike the hills and discover places that few people have had the ability to enjoy.

They both enjoy being involved with G2G because it has brought so many people from all over the world, exposing them to the beauty that Kanab has to offer. It is always a thrill to experience the runners soaking up the red hills scenery for the first time, and to support them throughout their G2G adventure.

Both Dave and Susana are involved with pre-race preparations, coordinating with landowners and suppliers. During the race, Dave has an important role evacuating DNF’s from the course and helping to get them to a safe place. Susana helps those same runners connect to their luggage, find them a place to stay and arrange transportation home. Dave is a retired captain from American Airlines and many G2G competitors over the years have been flown by Dave in his private plane around the area. Susana is retired from Sprint Telecommunications.