For years I ran around parks, cities and other weird and wonderful places in my swimwear. I raced as an elite triathlete on the European Cup and British circuit for six years and trained at Loughborough and Leeds high performance centres with Olympic and World Champions. After retiring from short course racing I competed in long distance triathlon and ultra marathon events (because…why not?) I have experienced the highs and the lows of sport, battled with saddle sores, overtraining and injuries. I have competed and trained with the best athletes in the world, crashed on live TV and developed an allergy to neoprene (not ideal when your job involves wearing a wetsuit).
Manchester born and bred I grew up doing all of the school sports, mainly as a prerequisite to eating more cake. My younger years were spent swimming and occasionally running around a boggy field in my dads t shirt as my family coerced me into starting my biathlon career (see photo for proof).
I started competitive sport as a national swimmer before going to Loughborough University where I joined the British Triathlon high performance squad. This is where my life in lycra really began. Having never ridden a bike before I spent my time yoyoing between chasing Britain’s best on two wheels and leading the swim lanes. From nowhere my triathlon career had well and truly started as I was thrown into a group of multisporting superheroes. It was a sink or swim situation and I seesawed between the two. But I loved it and I learnt a hell of a lot and I was initiated into the world of the professional triathlete, travelling the world and racing the ETU circuit. Eventually this wealth of experience led me into the wonderful world of coaching.
Previously I coached at my local tri club and spent six years working on triathlon training camps in Mallorca, coaching complete beginners to elite athletes. Once I stopped racing short course professionally I ‘went long’ and entered Challenge Vichy long distance tri (mainly to see what all the fuss was about) before ‘going even longer’ and completing the Mallorca Serra de Tramuntana 112km ultra run race, 4,500m elevation (yes, it hurt).
With experience in all race distances I have coached numerous athletes competing in various events from short and long course triathlon, run events to ultra marathons.
Which leads me to now…HJTri coaching.
HJTri 