Ian Down
Ian is a partner in the entertainment, media and intellectual property department at Hamlins LLP, solicitors, in Regent Street, London and specialises in marketing and sports sponsorship law. He is best known within the brand licensing industry for his work for the McDonald’s Happy Meal licensing programme in Europe and APMEA over the last 10 years.
It’s fair to say that Ian has blagged his way on to the Light Fund Malta swim team. When quizzed about his swimming background, he was forced to reveal that he had only ever raced twice and had been placed 2nd out of 2 in each race! He added “It still took me a while longer to realise that organised-swimming might not be for me, but the penny finally dropped when I cracked my head open misjudging a tumble-turn. At least I won’t face that problem with open water swimming!”.
Prospective sponsors might feel that, with this background, there’s little point in sponsoring him as he’s unlikely to complete the Malta challenge intact or at all. Moreover, the concern isn’t lessened after hearing him enthusiastically confess that the reason he signed up for the swim is because at the age of 45 he’s now in full mid-life crisis and was hoping to find like-minded individuals!
However, after Ian’s recent Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge sponsors needn’t worry about his powers of endurance, even if it has done little to dispel concerns about his state of mind. As recently as September 2007, Ian volunteered to raise a team to run the challenge involving 24 miles over rough terrain and 3,000 metres of climb and descent. Ian was the first to complete the challenge in a very respectable 6.5 hours whilst carrying a significant hip injury and raising funds for the Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charity in the process. On later having his sanity questioned as to why he had run/limped the whole way round, he commented “I didn’t intend to run injured, but I’d trained for 3 months and, once I’d started, I couldn’t resist having a bit of a shuffle”.
Ian has requested the Light Fund to donate one half of the funds raised by him to Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charity and his shattered body to research into the health-risks of volunteering for challenges in the name of charity.
