Formby man raises over £2m in a North Pole Race, Sahara marathons and black tie, white collar boxing

This year will see the funds raised by Formby man, Ian Mullane for a children's hospital in Cambodia pass the £2.2 million mark. He has achieved this through a variety of ways such as a North Pole Race, marathons in the Sahara and black tie, white collar boxing events in Singapore and Hong Kong since 2007. He has organised events that have seen more than 600 white collar professionals compete in front of more than 25,000 people. They are extensively covered by the media including BBC, ESPN and 1843 (the Economist) GQ and Men's Health. The result of it all has been over 10,000 free operations performed on children at Children's Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh (CSC.org) and the building of a new wing that has doubled capacity.
Ian lived in Singapore from 2003 to 2013 but moved back to the UK for family reasons where he founded Locowise which is based in Liverpool but with offices around the world including here Singapore.
Ten years ago, while living in Singapore, Formby man Ian Mullane organised a white collar boxing event in Singapore to raise funds for charity. He recruited twenty professional men and women who hadn't boxed before, including lawyers, financial traders, and a doctor. They trained for three months and in front of 400 black tie guests in a Singapore hotel, a ten-year journey commenced that has changed thousands of children’s lives.
Ian said: "I had been looking for a fundraising platform to support the charities I was involved with and from that event, I could see the potential. We immediately replicated the event in Hong Kong and found the same enthusiasm with more than a hundred applicants looking to take part". Ten years on and more than 30,000 black-tie guests have walked the red carpet to see six hundred white collar professionals box for their first time. The events are televised, covered extensively by the media and recognised as the largest globally. "I still haven't got used to seeing a report on the TV or articles in the likes of GQ and Men's Health on the events That and having the involvement of world champions like Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan is beyond what we could have expected," Ian said.

WC Boxing event
It was before the first Hong Kong event that Ian was invited to visit the Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC) in Phnom Penh Cambodia by one of the boxers participating. Founded in the nineties by British doctor Jim Gollogly, CSC provides free surgical operations for children who would otherwise not get help. Ian said: "That trip changed me; I witnessed the direct impact these doctors were having on children's lives. Parents were travelling from all over the country, sometimes for days to get treatment for their children. Desperate cases, difficult to describe but everyone left better than arrival."
"CSC was a charitable organisation, dependent on donations of both financial aid and equipment. They had no other income, no government support and relied on surgeons from around the world to give their time to help build up the Cambodian expertise that was destroyed under the regime of the Khmer Rouge.”

Ian in the North Pole race
"I decided to put all our support behind CSC and not only raise funds for the hospital but also raise awareness of the organisation,” said Ian. That support has seen more than £2.2 million raised, which has funded more than 12,500 surgical operations as well as allowing CSC to build a new hospital wing, increasing its capacity by 175%."
"What Ian and his team have achieved is fantastic,” said Dr Jim Gollogly, CEO of Children’s Surgical Centre. "We could never have helped so many children without their support."
And it’s not just boxing events that have raised funds. Ian has competed in 250km ultra marathons across the Sahara and expeditions to the North Pole all for CSC. Ian went on to say: "All I can say is that I am lucky to have my incredibly understanding wife Sandy, who supports my madness."

Ian in the North Pole race
Top photo - Ian can be seen on the left in the cheque presentation to the children's surgical centre in Cambodia