Murray Sparks,
Murray has been involved in a wide range of sports for decades before turning his focus to trail running around seven years ago. He has built up extensive experience through multi-day fast-packing adventures across New Zealand, Europe, and South America, exploring both iconic Great Walks and lesser-known trails. A multi-year finisher of events such as the Old Ghost Ultra, Blue Lake Challenge 100km, Mozart Ultra (Austria), and countless other ultras, shorter trail races, and adventure runs, Murray brings a deep understanding of endurance performance across a variety of distances and conditions. Passionate about helping others on their running journey, he is well known for organising and leading group runs, training camps, and adventure-based experiences. Murray takes an athlete-centred, science-informed approach to coaching and loves geeking out on how to help runners get the most from their training. He holds the UESCA Ultrarunning Certification and balances coaching with running his own business and tending a lifestyle block in Tauranga.
Dawn, Tuffery,
Dawn has been a keen runner for nearly 20 years, including 15 years of ultramarathons. She helps athletes build confidence and enjoy the process, drawing on her experience across trail, road, and track to support a range of goals. Dawn has earned various podium finishes at ultra distances, including the Tarawera 100 Miler and Ultra-Trail des Cagous. She is a six-time New Zealand champion across the 100 km and 24-hour events, with personal bests of 8:41 for 100 km and 202 km for 24 hours, and has represented New Zealand six times at IAU World and Asia–Oceania Championships. Her coaching qualifications include the UESCA Ultrarunning Certification and Lydiard Level 2.
Kerry Suter,
Two-time winner of the Tarawera ultra marathon and SQUADRUN founder, Kerry has been training racing and coaching for almost 20 years. As a professional coach he has helped thousands of athletes and as an accomplished athlete has seen his share of podiums. Intelligent, funny, empathetic and modest he boasts PBs of 15:24 5km, 31min 10km, 71min half with a list of coaching qualifications rivalled by few in the region. UESCA Ultra Coach, World Athletics L4 Coach, Athletics Aus L2 Adv Coach, Aus Strength & Conditioning L2, Nordic walking instructor +more
Sean McWilliams,
Sean has been running since 2011, kicking off with road half-marathons and marathons before discovering the unbridled joys of trail running in 2016. His key driver as a coach is to help support and guide other runners in reaching their goals, whatever they might be. Outside of coaching, Sean is a secondary school Biology teacher with a BSc and MSc and a background in strength training (Grad. Dip. In Sport, Recreation, and Exercise). His running-specific qualifications include L1 and L2 Lydiard Foundation certificates, and World Athletics qualifications.