Organizers

Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua is only made possible with lots hard work, love and dedication. Thank you to all our our friends and volunteers, we could not do it without you.

Josue Stephens | Founder, Director

www.josuecorre.com An avid ultra runner and traveling enthusiast, I spent the first ten years of life as a missionary kid in Mexico and Central America. Although mostly Scottish and Irish, I learned Spanish as my first language. Once of age, I continued traveling to Central America and Mexico for adventure and to quench my thirst for the beautiful culture. After visiting Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua several times I fell head over heels in love with it. My dream has always been to work with the people of Central America in environmental and economic sustainability. When I began running ultra marathons, everything just clicked for me, I would develop a sustainable footrace on Isla de Ometepe. This way I could not only work with the local economy, but I could also have an incredible and challenging event at the same time.

Paula Ring-Stephens | Director, Designer

Waterstories Art and Design

Christian Griffith | Director of Marketing

Freebairn and Company Advertising Agency Christian Griffith loves to move his body. Running, surfing, skating, SUP’ing, swimming, and just about anything that involves hurling one’s body in various directions; but life can’t be all fun and games, so when it’s time to be professional, Christian digs in as Vice President of Digital Strategy at Freebairn & Company Advertising Agency in Atlanta, Georgia, developing integrated advertising and marketing campaigns for a various clients from universities to retail lighting stores and everything in between. Lastly, and most importantly, Christian proudly holds the distinction of the most 100K finishes at Fuego Y Agua, and plans to come back every year to hold on to this title.

Zachary Wessler | Event Manager, Volunteer Coordinator

Currently serving as a Small Business Development Peace Corps Volunteer in the city of Moyogalpa on Ometepe, I spend mornings consulting with local businesses and afternoons teaching high school entrepreneurship classes. Originally from Trumbull, Connecticut, I volunteered for the local volunteer fire and EMS departments for several years, traveled to dozens of countries around the world, and in 2010, graduated from the University of Maryland. I love exercise, sweating, and being outdoors, yet ironically, have never run a race in my life. Volunteering at Fuego y Agua last year was my first race experience and I immediately wanted to play a larger role this year and am looking forward to ensuring a smooth and exciting race in 2013.

Tabatha Parker | Calzado Kids Run Organizer

Co-founder of Natural Doctors International (NDI) the first international naturopathic relief organization of its kind,

Dr. Parker strives to bring naturopathic medicine to its rightful place in global health. Her dedication to find solutions to global health through natural medicine has led her to make the conscious choice to reside outside of the United States. Living on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua, Central America, the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Dr. Parker works as Executive & Medical Director of NDI, attends patients in NDI’s free community clinics, and leads Global Health Courses to Nicaragua 4-6 times per year. As an international doctor, she works in the trenches everyday seeing how structural violence in developing nations affects health care. She thrives to use her activism in natural medicine to inspire students and doctors to become active globally. In addition to her clinical work, Tabatha is a writer, social justice activist, and dedicated wife and mother. She is an active member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) Doctors for Global Health (DGH) and the Global Health Council (GHC).

Volunteering

Making a race happen takes a lot of work and dedication and we can always use volunteers. See our volunteer page for more information or to register as a volunteer for these events.