| Meet the Team |
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Our Qualified Coaching Staff Dan Bullock MIOS Dan Bullock has been coaching since 1990. He is a keen Swimmer and Triathlete who has helped thousands get fit and fast for adventures from their first novice TRI to the Channel. Dan's accolades include being National Masters Champion (2008,9), a British AG Record Holder (800m), European Masters Medallist and is a Double-Ironman finisher. His sessions are a great mixture of flawless skill, infectious motivation and general amenability. To many he appears to have a pretty decent FC stroke. As well as teaching people how to move more effortlessly and efficiently in the water, he’s a 9 year student of Bikram yoga and has swum inside of 45mins for 3.8km.
Keeley Bullock, MIOS Having started competitive swimming at the age of 7 with Walthamstow swimming club Keeley soon progressed to Waltham Forest Swimming Squad. Training soon became a minimum of 14 hours pool training per week and extra time for flexibility and gym work. She competed in many competitions up to a national standard, which took her to different competitions in many countries. Due to the years of swim training, Keeley had a good understanding of the mechanics of swimming and quickly progressed through her ASA preliminary qualifications and onto her ASA teachers certificates. She has worked in local pools for many years teaching ages ranging from babies to the 50plus. She needed a new challenge and took the relevant American red cross teaching and life guarding qualifications in the early 90s and spent a summer teaching swimming to children and young adults in Florida. Having returned from her travels she was then asked to teach these Camp America candidates. Keeley enjoys helping those with phobias and fears of the water, she feels it is everyone's right to enjoy the water. Ray Gibbs, MIOS After many summers mentoring for Swim For Tri at their open water facility and with 16 years of ASA teaching experience under his belt, Ray finally took the plunge, gave up his 9 to 5 and became a full-time member of the SFT team, specializing in 1-on-1 sessions at the Endless Pool in Canary Wharf. He has never looked back. Every 'eureka!' moment achieved by clients makes his job thoroughly rewarding. The catalyst for him to start swimming sparked when he caught the triathlon bug in 1992 and, despite having no swim pedigree prior to taking up the sport, he became one of the fastest swimmers in his age group. Hopefully, his personal journey from couch potato to 'sharp end' swimmer is an inspiration to anyone who doubts their ability to swim well as an adult (he is getting faster still, as he races into his 40's!). Dawn Hunter Dawn is an ASA qualified swim teacher, British Cycling Club Coach, BTA Level 3 Triathlon coach and YMCA qualified Personal Trainer. Her aim is to help individuals and groups, whether at beginner, GB age group or elite levels, to achieve their goals. As well as coaching for SwimforTri, Dawn coaches for British Cycling on their Go-Ride activities, on Steve Trew's Stoke Mandeville training camps and she is the club coach for East London Triathletes. She also coaches individual triathletes ranging from complete novices to Elites. Recently she was appointed the team manager for the GB Age Group Team for the ETU European Long Distance Triathlon Championships in Belgium. Prior to this she was the team manager for Long Distance World Champs team in Canberra, and in 2005 she was one of the team managers of the winning England team in the Home Nations competition held as part of the London Triathlon. She is actively involved in both triathlon and cycling, racing in a range of events at different distances. In 2005 she completed her first Ironman, and 12 hour cycling time trial, having previously raced up to ½ Ironman distance.
Originally from eastern Canada, Bram joined the SFT staff in 2005, bringing a wealth of swimming experience after a successful career in the pool and more recently as a highly successful coach. He relocated to London after five years with one of the top club teams in the United States and two years working with the Harvard University men's program in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an American Swim Coaches Association Level 2 coach and also a member of the British ISTA. As well as coaching for SFT as a senior technical advisor he works with some of the top swimmers in London. Predominantly through his work with Westminster and Chelsea Swimming Club he is a stroke perfectionist. Maxine George-Tolonen, MIOS Maxine learned to swim at the age of 8 and soon realized she had a talent for swimming. She started to swim competitively with Walthamstow Swimming Club and soon progressed to the Squad Team where she was the first girl to break 60 seconds for the 100m freestyle in Waltham Forest Borough. Countless early mornings and rigorous training schedules led to multiple runner-up positions at the English National Swimming Championships. She was chosen to swim for Great Britain and England Youth Squads at age 14 and competed at the Junior Europeans and numerous other international events. She specialized in the 200, 400m, and 800m front crawl as well the 100m and 200m butterfly. Now that her competitive days are over she has a strong desire to pass her knowledge of swimming to others. She currently holds an ASA Level 2 Coaching certificate and enjoys teaching others to develop their swimming technique at all levels, from the nervous beginner to the advanced professional.
Toby Radcliffe  Toby turned pro long course triathlete for 2008. Getting 6th place at Ironman UK and qualifying for the World Championships in his first professional year, Toby is looking to go even faster in 2009. His Ironman swim PB is 49:47 (IMUK 2007). Other notable race results so far this year are: winner of the Nove Colli Double Marathon (Italy), Australian Masters Olympic Distance Champion (2009), and 2nd place at the Saab Salomon South Downs Trail Marathon. Toby races for Team Timex, an international multisport team. Check out his blog at www.tobyradcliffe.com
Rob Popper
Rob Popper originally comes from a background in martial arts training, coaching and competition in the US, Asia and Europe, having trained with and traught alongside members of the Mexican, USA, Nigerian and Taiwanese National Tae Kwon Do teams. He was an avid practitioner and teacher for over 20 years until family and work obligations meant he had to find something a little more sedate. Having been a keen open water swimmer since childhood summers spent in upstate New York (Lake Placid and the Adirondack region), an avid cyclists since training with the Westchester Cycling Club in his teens, and an occasional runner for endurance training in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, triathlon seemed to be the next natural choice. He has been training for and competing in triathlons since 2002, working his way up the food chain to do his first Ironman in 2010. He has also been a BTA certified Triathlon Coach since 2006, currently working to complete his Level 3 qualification. Additionally, Rob is a UK Athletics Running Coach and will be working towards his ASA Swim Teaching qualifications this Autumn. Jack Summers TBC
____________________________________________________________________________________ Maria Pedraza Maria loves the water! At the young age of 5, swimming started ans she soon became a great swimmer at Bethnal Green "Sharks" swimming club in Hackney East London. Best strokes were backstroke and butterfly. Hard swim training five nights a week after school and competitions in London and Essex ensued. After a long break, Maria swam for leisure and the 2 years ago she decided to take up the sport of Triathlon, with the swim leg as her best of the three disciplines of course! To continue her love for all things water, she assist Swim For Tri in their open water sessions and on triathlon holidays abroad. and has recently studied to become an ASA Qualified swim teacher to help swimmers with water confidence and improve stroke technique and fitness. Maria also coaches her fellow Triathletes in their fitness swim fitness session for her club, East London Triathletes.
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