Rob Harvey
Head Coach
Qualifications
- British Triathlon Level 3 Coach
- British Cycling Club Coach
- SMBLA Trail Cycle Leader
- Sports Coach UK Coach Educator and Assessor
- National Strength & Conditioning Association Level 1
- 1st Class Hons Degree - Sport and Exercise Science, Univ of Birmingham
- Mervyn Davis Prize for Physiology Research
Experience
- Head Coach at Manchester Triathlon Club since 2006
- Coach Education Tutor & Assessor for International Cycling Union (UCI), British Cycling (BCF) & British Triathlon (BTF)
- Scholarship Coach at the British Triathlon High Performance Centre, Leeds Met, 2007
Awards
- British Triathlon North West Coach of the Year 2007 & 2009
- 220 Triathlon Coach of the Year Finalist 2009
- Helped Man Tri win BTF Club of the Year 2008
Reasons for starting coaching
- Over the years I've been helped by some great coaches in a number of sports. This has helped me appreciate the value of effective coaching.
- At school, college and university all I ever wanted to do was study Sport and Exercise Science. My degree gave me a good understanding of how the body works.
- I've been involved in coaching since 1995 and Triathlon coaching since 2004.
- Coaching became my career in Jan 2005 when I started working for British Cycling.
Reasons for starting triathlon:
- As a kid I used to swim and run with local clubs, although back then anything over 200m seemed like a marathon.
- I started running again at Sixth Form College and Man Tri member Mark Tweedie (who was my A-Level PE teacher at the time) almost talked me into doing Cheshire Sprint, but back then Lycra wasn't really my thing.
- I tried out a road bike for the first time just after University whilst on holiday at Club La Santa, thought it was brilliant and decided it was a far better way to get around London than the tube.
- It took me another few years to get over the Lycra issue and the fact it all sounded so knackering before finally having a go at the Salford Sprint. I loved it and I now compete to get knackered wearing Lycra.
Most Embarrassing Moment in a race:
Derby Triathlon 2004: Coming out of T1 and leaping straight over my bike and onto the pavement in front of a sizeable crowd.... Mixed reaction of oooh's and haaaa's
Closely followed by
Christmas Eve 2-UP Time Trial, Bickerstaffe 2006: Paul Skipper and me getting beaten by two snow men on a tandem complete with carrots noses
Worst Moment in a race:
Getting beaten to death in the swim at the World Age-Group Champs in Hamburg 07
Best Moment in a race:
Getting out of the water at Ironman New Zealand 2010, looking over at the clock and seeing it said 55 mins. I felt like I'd won the race there and then! Finishing wasn't bad either.