RIK MERCHIE (°1983) is a historian, with a special interest in anthropology. He ran Marathon du Mont-Blanc and OCC (UTMB). His hiking boots took him to the Camino de Santiago, The West Highlandway, the Everest Base Camp Trek & Langtang Trek, around Mont Blanc and The Annapurnas. He worked as a teacher, youth coach and freelance editor for Belgian national television. He directed the short docu Pozzallo pirates (Official Selection International Peace & Film Festival Orlando 2016). His first book Hitchhiking Everest (Uitgeverij Vrijdag, 2012) on his solo road trip from Belgium to Nepal, was well received by media & audience. His second book The Holy Trail (Lannoo Publishers) will come out on the 8th of May 2018. He lives in Ghent (Belgium), where he camps in front of his laptop – if he’s not trying to get his trail running legs back, hiking for Alba with young offenders (walking therapy) or working as a garden contractor to clear his mind. DUCKTAPE is an independent Belgian audio-visual production company by DIMI DUMORTIER (°1966) and KARSTEN DE VILDER (°1966). They made two feature documentaries about adventurous traveling: Hitchtanbul (Hitchhiking from Belgium to Istanbul) and World’s Smallest Grande Armée (walking 1000 km to re-enact Napoleon’s Russian winter campaign) and several short documentaries. Both filmmakers are skilled long-distance hikers. Dimi worked for Alba for 15 years, where he walked and organised a multitude of 2500 km hikes. In 2001, also for Alba, he co-founded assoseuil.org, now Europe’s leading association regarding walking therapy for young offenders. LANNOO PUBLISHERS www.lannoo.be/nl/international