Coaching Masterclass Series – Registration Open!

Jack Maitland competed at world-class level in some of the toughest sports: orienteering, fell running and triathlon, and won a range of national and international events. He represented Great Britain in World and European Championships and was the top performing Scottish athlete in the demonstration triathlon at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.

Jack has 19 years experience as a full-time triathlon coach. As a major instigator and long-term head coach of the Leeds Triathlon Centre he was instrumental in the successes of Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Vicky Holland, Non Stanford and many other elite athletes. Jack has twice been a winner of the prestigious Mussabini medal for services to British sport and is a member of the Sports Coach UK Hall of Fame. In 2018 he left his position at the Leeds Triathlon Centre to set up The Sports Ashram and pursue new challenges.

Dr Elliott-Sale completed her undergraduate degree and PhD [Exercise Physiology] at Liverpool John Moores University. Her PhD examined the effects of female reproductive hormones on muscle strength and since then her work has primarily focused on female athletes. She worked as a Lecturer at Brunel University and the University of Brighton before undertaking a four-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Kings College London. Dr Elliott-Sale joined Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in 2009.

In addition to her research on female athletes, which includes the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, the Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, her work in recent years has involved designing and implementing exercise interventions during and following pregnancy in a variety of populations including servicewomen (i.e., military personnel), athletes and women with obesity. She has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapter, expert statements and editorials on/for sportswomen. In addition, she is an advisor for the English Institute of Sport and the Football Association and is on several special interest groups and advisory boards related to female athletes. She is an Associate Professor [Reader] of Female Physiology and the Head of the Musculoskeletal Physiology Research Group at NTU.

Michael is Triathlon Ireland’s National Head Coach, working with athletes at all levels of the Triathlon Ireland High Performance Programme. Michael has an extensive background in Endurance coaching.

He began coaching in 1998 and has helped athletes from a wide variety of sporting disciplines to reach their athletic goals. Michael holds a masters degree in Sports Coaching and is currently completing a Professional Doctorate in Elite Sports with a focus on elite triathletes. Michael’s previous roles include working as National Development Manager with Triathlon Ireland. He spent 7 years working with Donegal Sports Partnership as a sports coordinator as well as running his sports coaching/fitness company which has been in operation since 2008. As an athlete manager he was part of Pace Sports Management in London, helping talented athletes reach their potential.  His coaching philosophy is about a person centred approach, dealing with the person first and the athlete second.

Hayley has been coaching for over 30 years and is best known as a High Performance athletics coach specializing in the sprints and hurdles events. Her athletes have competed at all the major championships (including World and Olympic Games) and amongst them over 50 national records have been set and over 150 national titles have been won. She took her first coaching awards at the age of 16 and since then she has amassed over 50 coaching awards across 42 sports even though athletics is still her primary sport. She was the first female in the world to achieve the Level 5 elite coaches award in the 400m Hurdles back in 1991 and has been recognized by Athletics Ireland, UK Athletics, European Athletics and the IAAF (now World Athletics) for her coaching achievements and contribution to coaching in Athletics. Hayley is a volunteer coach, but her job is coaching related; she is a Coach Education Development Officer with Sport Ireland Coaching with responsibility for the Coach Developer suite of programmes and for the High Performance Coach Support programme.

Oliver Harkin has experienced the challenges and demands that training for Triathlon and Ironman brings. Being the father of four children he knows the challenge it takes to manage life, training and competing. That’s why every session must count.

Oliver has been a full time coach for more than 10 years, and has coached multiple Ironman finishers, World Championship qualifiers, race winners, ITU national representatives and some of the most talented age group triathletes across the country.

With over 15 years of racing experience, he has competed in 7 Ironman events, going sub 10 hours at the Ironman World Championships in Kona in 2017.

Qualifications:

– British Triathlon Federation, BTF Level 3
– Triathlon Ireland Coach of the Year 2016
– Triathlon Ireland Tutor level 2. Certified by Coaching Ireland.
– Ironman University Coach. 
– Triathlon Ireland Northern Region Talent Development Coach 2009-2011

Personal:
9 Ironman races and qualified for Kona twice.

Maxine Strain works as a full time Level 2 triathlon and Swim Smooth coach. With Triathlon Ireland, Maxine is currently training as coach developer and mentor and has more recently been appointed to the Triathlon Ireland board as ordinary director. Born and raised in South Africa, Maxine grew up in the pool in the back yard and mainly got around on a BMX – she is still working on the run! 

With a background in sales & marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, Maxine has been self-employed for much of the last 15 years and loves the autonomy that this allows. As a member of Naas Tri Club, Maxine first participated in triathlon just 4 years ago and now enjoys training for middle and full distance. Maxine runs squad training for approximately 150 athletes each week and also provides swim video analysis, online coaching, 1-to-1 sessions, skills training and swim clinics.