About us
For us at Outdoor Concepts, a love of the wild and beautiful places in Northern Ireland and beyond is what drives us. Our dream was born in a small terraced house in Belfast in the late 1990’s – bringing together like-minded people- climbers, canoeists, mountaineers, mountain bikers. These sports are all silent sports – where connecting with nature is simple and graceful.
Provide the best outdoor adventure experiences, keep everyone safe, inspire others to connect more with nature and promote solutions to protect our environment.
Our employees treat work as play – work has to be fun. You will find our staff out rock climbing, mountain biking or canoeing on their days off. We don’t advertise for staff – instead we prefer to seek out like-minded individuals through an informal network of friends, colleagues and business associates. Our staff aren’t drones who simply follow instructions. They are outdoor adventure professionals who ask questions, work collaboratively and produce activity programmes of the highest quality.
Meet Our Team
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Craig McCullough
Craig owns and operates the company. With over twenty years experience in the outdoor industry and over fifteen as Director of Outdoor Concepts, Craig brings valuable experience to various committees in Northern Ireland and the UK - he has been the Chair for the Activity Tourism Working Group 2013-2015, current Vice Chair of AHOEC NI (Association of Head of Outdoor Education Centres) and currently represents activity providers throughout Northern Ireland on the AAIAC (Adventure Activity Industry Advisory Committee) Council. Craig holds qualifications in hill walking, canoeing, stand up paddle boarding, rock climbing, abseiling and mountain biking. -
Claire Hardy
Claire simply loves to be outside! When she is not working she can be putting on a pair of walking boots or rock shoes or enjoying some flowy mountain bike trails. Its a real privilege for the OC Team to have someone like Claire on our staff team. And when the winter months arrive then you will usually find her rock climbing and mountain biking around Europe. Claire holds qualifications in rock climbing and abseiling, mountain biking, hill walking, canoeing and kayaking. -
Emma Thompson
Emma is probably most at home on the water, whether it's on the sea or our inland waterways journeying in kayak, sup or canoe. However you will also often find her in the hills walking and climbing or mountain biking. Emma loves being in the great outdoors and for her the activity is just the means of travel. Emma is a British canoeing sea, whitewater and touring leader as well as a coach and provider of foundation safety and rescue award. She also holds qualifications in hillwalking, rock climbing, mountain biking, orienteering and Leave No Trace. -
Jonathan Mornin
With over 20 years working in the outdoors Johnny brings a wealth of experience to the team. His invaluable experience is accompanied by a myriad of qualifications. On water he is a Level 3 Kayak Coach on sea inland waterways, alongside his Level 2 Powerboat. On land he has qualifications in hill walking, rock climbing abseiling, mountain biking and archery. -
Andrew Lynas
Whether he is winning mountain bike races, going on multi-day mountain bike expeditions in the Alps, maintaining our mountain bike hire fleet, running our mountain biking skills courses or being flown out to America by high end bike companies Andrew is our mountain biking guru. He also has qualifications in rock climbing abseiling and canoeing. -
Emma Miller
If Emma is not off exploring the Nepal Himalaya with National Geographic, or winning awards for scientific exploration then you will find her enjoying the outdoors back home in Northern Ireland. She has qualifications in mountaineering, is a fully qualified yoga instructor and when she has some extended time back home we enjoy having her back in the OC Staff Team.