SPEAKER BIOS

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

‘Be with Champions’ podcast host, Fitness and Health & Wellness Consultant, Coach, Speaker, Olympian, and World Champion.

Greg represented Australia 24 times at World Triathlon Championships, Goodwill Games, and Olympic Games (4th Athens).

An athlete entrepreneur, he continues to adapt and reinvent himself, from Professional athlete to High-Performance Speaker, Consultant, TV pundit, and recently the host of Be with Champions podcast. 

Greg has also coached a range of athletes including Olympian and World Champion Laura Reback (USA), and supported Simon Whitfield (Canada), as a training partner, in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

WIRED TO COACH

Gayelene Clews is a World Renowned Sports Psychologist who competed at National Swimming Championships, World Athletics Championships and was World Number One in Triathlon. 

As a Sports Psychologist Gayelene has worked with many of Australia’s and the World Super Elite athletes including the Australian Women’s Water Polo Team, ACT Academy of Sport, Canberra Raiders, Wallabies Australian Rugby Team, Volleyball Australia’s Men’s National Team, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Broncos.  

She is currently working with Singapore Swimming through to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. 

In 2015 she published Wired To Play, Australia’s most comprehensive book on athlete mental health.

EARN WHILE YOU SLEEP

Tim Ford is the CEO of MX Endurance and an endurance coach with a background in personal training, and Ironman University and Triathlon Australia certifications.

He turned his life around with triathlon, losing over 50 kg, becoming one of the top athletes in his age group, and is now helping fellow athletes succeed in this complex sport.

As CEO of MX Endurance Tim works closely with a team of experts to deliver content and value for a membership base of over 2,800 and works with key stakeholders in the endurance sports community to help nurture and develop athletes as they experience endurance sports.

Tim has a background in social media and marketing, and is one of the hosts on the health podcast ‘Think Fit.’

WHAT’S YOUR STRATEGY?

Ben Gathercole coached Simon Thompson to 10th at the Athens Olympics, during a successful coaching career.

He wrote the successful book “Better Than Winning”, is a type 1 diabetic and has owned a successful Learn to Swim business.

As a high Performance leader, he has worked as the ACT Brumbies Team Director and High Performance Director for Triathlon Australia.

Currently Ben works as the Team Director with Porsche Carrera Cup driver Cameron Hill, who is one of the leading contenders in the 2020 season

YOUR PERFORMANCE IS YOUR BUSINESS

Wayne Goldsmith is the Managing Director of Moregold Sports Pty Ltd. He is a thought leader, speaker, author, mentor and coach.

For almost 30 years, Wayne has worked with some of the world’s leading coaches, athletes and teams with a focus on innovation, creativity, thought leadership and education.

He is driven by a passion to learn and to inspire others to learn – to dare to be different – and to be all they can be.

Wayne lives on the Gold Coast in Australia, is a crazy – but terrible – fisherman and loves any opportunity to spend time in the wilderness.

WILD AI: WOMEN ARE NOT MEN

Helene Guillaume is the founder and CEO of WILD.AI. and works with a team that includes the co-founder of Clue, Ph.ds experts in the domain, Dr. Stacy Sims, coach Bevan McKinnon, and backed by the likes of Adidas and Paula Radcliffe.

Women are not men. But the world didn’t know. WILD AI is changing this, having conducted extensive research on what is the female body, translating that into an app, primarily helping women train, fuel, and recover based on their menstrual cycle.

Helene was a quant in a hedge fund and management consultant to Fortune500 companies in AI.

She transitioned from being a rugby player to an ultra-marathon runner, triathlete, and ice-swimmer. 

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL COACH

Jonathan (Aka Jono) Hall is the Head Coach of Triathlon Canada National Performance Center and owner of the Multisport Brain.

He has worked with some of the world’s best athletes including coaching Erin Densham to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

As a coach he has also worked in Head Coach and Performance Director roles at USA Triathlon, Triathlon Canada and in Australia.

Jono is a former Australian Road Cycling Champion and 1997 ITU World Duathlon Champion, who has a great sense of the business of endurance coaching.

BE AN EXPERT AUTHORITY

Stef Hanson is the Chief and Founder of WITSUP where she spends a lot of time writing about other people and to be honest, that part is easy, after all they’re greatness!

She started in triathlon as an age group triathlete, and like most civilians who dare step across the start line of a swim, bike, run event, she too was instantly addicted.

During her time in triathlon, Stef started to recognise trends, throughout the industry, that there was a discrepancy in women’s coverage, exposure and barriers to entry.

The concept of WITSUP.com provides an informational portal on the glorious world wide web, but more than that it is about creating an online and real life community for women in triathlon.

NEVER, EVER GIVE UP?

John Hellemans is an international triathlon coach and sports medicine practitioner based in Christchurch, NZ, who was made an Honorary Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to triathlon in June 2020.

John has been involved with triathlon for nearly 40 years, winning 6 New Zealand titles and representing New Zealand at several World Championships and raced the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.

He coached Erin Baker to win 10 World Championship titles including 2 Hawaii Ironmans (1987 & 1990), coached other World Champions, was involved in 4 Olympics and was the Head Coach for the Dutch Triathlon Team from 2010-2013.

He has extensively published on triathlon and sport science related topics, with a special interest in altitude. In 2018 he published his memoir ‘Never, Ever Give Up?’

BE A HIGH PERFORMING COACH

Graeme Hill has spent over 20 years as an innovator in the areas of athlete and coach development, and sports performance.

He has worked with a number of high performance Olympic and professional sports including triathlon, Australian football, swimming, hockey and rugby union.

The newly appointed General Manager – Coaching Development at Swimming Australia, spent the previous 6 years as the National Manager of Coach Development with Triathlon Australia.

His expertise in coach education, innovative curriculum development and effective learning enabled him to become a key member of the inaugural Sport Australia Community Coach Industry Advisory Group.

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?

Based in Canberra, Australia, Craig has spent 25 years working in high performance, coaching, events and leadership roles across five countries including leading Thanyapura.

He established one of the leading endurance coaching businesses, NRG2Perform, in Asia before specialising in high performance leadership with CEO’s, sport organisations and coaches.

As a High Performance Leadership Expert, Craig has worked with Olympians, World Champions, International Coaches and CEO’s of some of the world’s leading businesses.

He is an international speaker, host of the active CEO Podcast and the creator of Breaking The COACH Code.

FROM ZERO TO HERO!

Rebekah (Bek) Keat was a pro triathlete for over 22 years with over 30 podiums including a two time junior world champion, 6 x Iron Distance Champion, 3 x National Champion and as one of the fastest female Iron Distance athletes has a 8hr 39min personal best.

Bek, a ten year plus coach, has guided two age world championship medalists and is the co-founder of Team Sirius Triathlon Club, growing the club to over 400 members in 3 years with Siri Lindley.

She is a co-founder of two non profits, Believe Ranch and Rescue (C3) Horses In Our Hands a (C4) that have been established to save horses and ban horse slaughter!

Working with Cam Langford (Training Tilt), Bek has focused on building Team Sirius from the ground up to one of the most successful endurance coaching businesses.

OWN YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Cam Langsford is the founder of Training Tilt, a software platform that combines coaching tools with e-commerce that enables endurance coaches to manage and grow their businesses online.

He is passionate about advancing the coaching profession through the combination of technology and marketing expertise, helping brands like Team Sirius scale their businesses internationally by building and leveraging their digital presence.

Cam has a rare combination of skills from his degree in marketing and business communications along with more than 15 years of experience working with technology startups as a software engineer.

As an age group athlete, Cam has completed 8 Ironmans and dozens of half and olympic distance triathlons.

CREATING YOUR LIFE’S LEGACY

Siri Lindley, the co-founder of Team Sirius Tri Club, is regarded as the one of the premier endurance coaches in the world, having coached athletes to 11x World Championship titles and 2x Olympic medals.

The former 2x world champion and #1 in the world, authored Surfacing, which takes you on a journey of self-doubt to winning big and living fearlessly.

A powerhouse speaker and facilitator, Siri shares the stage with Tony Robbins, as she thrives in the business of changing lives and making dreams come true.

What truly captures her heart and fuels the fire in her belly is a passion beyond coaching, co-founding the Believe Ranch and Rescue 501C3 NP (2016) and 501c4 Horses In Our Hands to ban horse slaughter in the USA.

POST COVID-19 COACH APPROACH

Andrew Mackay, the head coach and founder of Boost Coaching, has supported hundreds of swimmers and triathletes achieve their goals through specific coaching programs, 1:1 lessons and consultations. 

He swam competitively where at a National Level, before racing as a pro triathlete including the 2009 Hawaii Ironman Champs.

Boost Coaching, is based on a sustainable coaching model that is innovative and evolves while providing significant value to athletes through scalable solutions.

With an interest in helping support adult swimmers as part of their triathlon journey, Andrew is an Ironman U Certified, Tri NZ Level 2 & Bike NZ Level 1 qualified coach.

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Chris “MACCA” McCormack is a 4x world triathlon champion, successful entrepreneur and one of the smartest brains in sport.

Globally, Chris won more than 250 triathlon events (76% win rate) including the coveted Hawaii Ironman World Championships (2007, 2010), the 1997 ITU World Triathlon and 2012 ITU World Long Distance Triathlon Champs.

The New York best-selling author of “I’m Here to Win’, Macca, has led some of the world’s most exciting sport projects including Thanyapura, Bahrain Endurance 13, Super League Triathlon, MX Endurance and MINC Group.

He established MaccaNow Foundation in honor of his mother Theresa McCormack, to help the fight against Breast Cancer.

WILD AI: WOMEN ARE NOT MEN 

Bevan is an IRONMAN University Certified Coach, Triathlon NZ Level 3 Accredited Coach, Bike NZ Coach and a qualified NETFIT Strength and Conditioning Coach.

He coaches amateur and Pro Triathletes and achieving multiple professional IRONMAN and 70.3 wins including a top 5 at the Hawaii IRONMAN World Champs.

Bevan works closely with the IM Oceania ‘Women for Tri’ Program, is a vocal advocate for female health and performance, and ahs achieved over 1 million downloads as owner and co-host of Fitter Radio Triathlon podcast.

It’s via his collaboration with Dr Stacy Sims that Bevan is now working as an advisor to WILD AI to increase the awareness that every day a woman’s body changes, so their training, nutrition and recovery should too.

STAND ON STRONG FOUNDATIONS

Tracey Menzies-Stegbauer is best known for coaching, five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe to become one Australia’s most successful Olympians.

She has led and performed consistently in a male dominated domain, including being the first female coach to be named on an Olympic team in 2004 since 1972 and the only Australian female swimming coach to coach an Olympic Gold medalist.

Considered a role model among woman, Tracey was named NSW Woman of the Year in 2005 as part of International Woman’s Day.

Tracey has led swim programs at the Australian Institute of Spot and the National Training Centre for Swimming Australia and been an active member of Australian Open and Youth teams.

SOLVE A PROBLEM

Paul Newsome founded Swim Smooth in 2004 with a box set of DVD’s providing a swim technique resources for his triathlon and open water swimmers.

16 years later, Swim Smooth provides a virtual coaching app Swim Smooth Guru, Swim Smooth certified coaching network and email database of over 130,000, while still continuing one of the world’s largest open water swimming and triathlon programs.

Paul was a top level swimmer, elite triathlete training with the likes of Simon Lessing and Julie Dibens, and has a Sport Science degree from Bath University.

The Swim Smooth app has had greater than 150,000 downloads and the Swim Smooth book has had more than 65,000 purchases.

WHO IS HOLDING YOU ACCOUNTABLE?

Leigh Nugent has 45 years of swim coaching experience is regarded as one of the best technical swimming coaches in the world.

As National Youth Coach for Swimming Australia from 2000 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2009, Leigh has worked with many of the best up and coming swimmers and coaches in Australia and around the world.

Leigh was the Head Coach of Swimming Australia in 2003-2004 and 2009-2012, leading the sport to its most successful Olympics, since Melbourne 1956, in Athens in 2004.

Since 2013, Leigh has been in a coach mentoring role for Swimming Australia and founded Gold Class Swimming with Rohan Taylor and Gary Barclay to assist swimming coaches, parents and swimmers on their journey through competitive swimming.

OWN YOUR SPACE

Lisa Tamati is a professional ultramarathon runner, adventure athlete, best selling author, crazy super human being, motivational speaker and mindset coach, who goes beyond the human limits.

She has authored three books including the recently launched, “Relentless”, which chronicles the hard won battle to save her Mum after a brain aneurysm and stroke.

Applying lessons learnt as an extreme endurance athlete, Lisa brought her Mum back in a three year journey that defied everything the medical fraternity diagnosed.

Imagine the University of life you gain when you cover over 70,000 km of running across some of the poorest, most dangerous and challenging stretches of earth including Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley?

WHO IS HOLDING YOU ACCOUNTABLE?

Rohan Taylor successfully coached Leisel Jones (2008) and Shayne Reese (2004, 2008) to Olympic Gold medals, produced 7 Olympians in Australia and Great Britain, and coached for Swimming Australia, since 1999.

He co-owns Gold Class Swimming and was announced Head Coach of Swimming Australia on the 3rd June 2020.

Previously, Rohan was the Swimming Australia National Team Coach Leader and State Head Coach for Victoria and Tasmania.

Combining with Leigh Nugent and Gary Barclay, they have created Gold Class Swimming, providing high level instruction and support to coaches, swimmers and parents across a variety of platforms.

COACHING POST COVID-19

James Thorp is a former elite athlete, and the founder and head coach of JT Multisport.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and has over 15 years coaching experience across three continents.

James’ strengths as a coach are mirrored in business where his degree in business and experience working as an operations analyst for an ASX listed company.

He has quickly established himself as one of the most highly credentialed triathlon coaches in the world, winning the Triathlon ACT Club Coach of the Year in 2019 and being nominated for the Triathlon Australia Age Group Coach of the Year in 2020.

SOLVE A PROBLEM

Adam Young has been coaching in triathlon since 2005 and joined Swim Smooth, in partnership with Paul Newsome, in 2008.

Together they have built perhaps the most influential swimming coaching company in the world working with over 120 governing bodies around the world alongside training their own network of over 50 Swim Smooth Certified Coaches.

Adam has spearheaded much of the technical innovation at Swim Smooth, from animations to stroke analysis to swim intelligence algorithms.

He enjoys combining the challenges of swim coaching, harnessing technology and lean business methods to help as many swimmers as possible.