The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

People

24 August 2019•The Week Junior

The brains behind

the Fortnitechampions

W

hen the first everFortniteWorld Cupwasheld
in NewYork, US, in July,itw asn’t just the
winners who hadareason tocelebrate. In the UK,
19-year-old Hugh Gilmourwasproud because he had
coachedeach of the top threecompetitors in the solo
tournament. Gilmour used to playcompetitively,but
he decided to focus on helping other gamers improve
their skills instead. He nowcomes up with strategies
to boostcompetitors’chances of winning.Even
though some of those hecoached won millions of
pounds, Gilmour onlyrece ived an agreed fee of £
MARC LANGLEYfrom each player he worked with.

·W
WT MEDIA PRODUCTION

·REX SHUTTERSTOCK

·GETTY IMAGES

THEYSAIDIT!

Adream come true

R

obbie Phillips has become the first British person

to complete one of the toughest challenges inrock

climbing. Known as the AlpineTrilogy,the challenge

consists of three climbs on mountains in Austria,

Germany and Switzerland, which Phillipscompleted

over thecourse of four years. He very nearly didn’t

complete the finalroute in Austria because of bad

weather.Only four other people areknown to have

conquered all three of theextremely difficult climbs,

which arenicknamed The SilverVulture, The End Of

Silenceand The Emperor’sNew Clothes. Phillips, from

Edinburgh, toldTheTimesnewspaper he had

dreamed about doing this sincehewas 15.“I never

feared for my life, butIoften feltreally intimidated

by the climbs,”hesaid.

9

Hugh Gilmour(right)

helpedKyle Giersdorf win.

F

or someonewho used to be afraid of flying,

Sacha Dench is now quite good at it. Known

as the human swan, in 2016 Dench flew

alongside Bewick’sswans as they made their

yearly 4,300-mile migration from Russia to the

UK. Birdmigrations areregular movements of

birds from one part of the world to another.

Dench isabiologist from Australia who

worksfor the Wildfowl andWetlandsTrust

(WWT) in the UK. The WWT is an organisation

that conserves wetlands for birds and animals

(wetlands areareas of land that arevery soggy

or covered by shallowwater.) Dench embarked

on the flight to find out wh

population of Bewick’sswa

wasfalling. Shewasable to

fly alongside the birds than

to aflying machinecalled

aparamotor,which is made

up ofaparachute and a

propellor engine that is

strapped to the pilot’sback.

Dench first tried outaparamotor in

an attempt to defeat her fear of flying, which

started after shewascaught inastorm during

aflight in the Caribbean.

Now,the human swan is preparing to take

to the skies again to follow the flight of

ospreys. Ospreys arebirds of prey that used to

be extinct in many places, including the UK, but

have been successfullyreintroduced. She plans

to follow the ospreys’migration from Scotland

to Ghana, in Africa. The journey isexpected to

cover 6,200 miles and go through 15countries,

and will help us understand the threats ospreys

ple candotohelp them.

As she did on her last trip,

ench will stop off and speak

people along theway. She

s her lastexpedition

taught her that“thereisn othing

likeshowing up and talking to

local people, to help learn what

the problemsreally are, but also to

come up withaplan”.Her adventure

begins in autumn 2020.

Human swangets

readyto take flight

DEEP

BREAT

HS

In her pr

evious

career as a

diver,D

ench onc

eheld her

breath

forsix minutes

and 22

seconds.

“I’d just like

to make

it illegal to

watch it on

phones”

Andrew Davies, who

createsTVdramas

based on classic novels,

says his showscan’t

be fully appreciated

whenwatched on

small screens.

AdventurerSachaDenchwillsoaralongsideospreys.

on

ceandwhat op

ys

The paramotor.

Robbie Phillips

Sacha Dench