May 23, 2025 • 8 mins
Sports medicine Dr and pioneering figure in the sport of triathlon has been inducted as a Legend of Canterbury Sport at the Sport Canterbury annual awards night.
Hellemans well known for his innovative style of coaching and work with the likes of Erin Baker and Andrea Hewitt spoke with Lesley Murdoch the morning after the event about his career to date and that he has no intention of steeping back from his celebrated efforts.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Newstalks he'd be. It is eighteen away from nine o'clock
and a very warm welcome to the airwaves. The second
inductee into the sport Canderby Legions, doctor John Helliman's joined us.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, yeah, good morning list Just like.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I asked, Melissa Roscoe, you scrubbed up okay this morning
after that wonderful event.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That's right. That was a total surprise to me. I
had no idea where I was going to rock up to.
It was all very kept. It was kept secret. When
I was told to put up a suit yesterday to
put on a suit, my alarm and they'll started ringing
(00:42):
because I'm not really a sort of person, and so
I wonder what was going on. And then we ended
up first at the airport where my daughter from the
North Island stepped off the plane there, so that was
a lovely surprise. And then we rocked up to the
airport museum and there was all the many of the
(01:03):
athletes I've coached over the years where we're meeting me there.
So that was fantastic and it's all sort of just
sinking in now what happened last night.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, it's just such reward, I mean, not that you
look for that, but when you think of the influence
that you've had, you know, and I think we have
to emphasize that not only did you coach Aaron Baker,
Andrea Hewitt, so many other wonderful athletes, you were a
very very good athlete yourself, and coming over from the
(01:37):
Netherlands when you were twenty five, it was a big risk.
With Ian your wife, well she was your girlfriend then.
But look where you are, two daughters later, four grandchildren
and all the people that you've helped and produced high
performing athletes. It's a phenomenal story.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, this country has done a lot for me, and
it's great that I could have that I could do
something back. We've had a wonderful time here with the athletes.
You know, as a coach, you're only as good as
the athletes you coach, and I've been very lucky and
(02:15):
fortunate to work with some wonderful athletes with some great talents.
So I've been a bit lucky that way as well.
Once you establish a reputation as a coach, and obviously
Aaron was the first one, and I wasn't even her coach.
We were just sort of collaborate us in this new sport.
(02:36):
But because he did so well, we were sort of,
you know, urged into exploring ways of training for this
new event. And so we were ahead of the game
for a few years, and I was happy to share
with others what Aaron and I had learned, and so
that's how it all started. Really, when you think.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
About and I mean, she was a very unique athlete.
She didn't get injured, or certainly didn't get injured very much.
Do you think that you were able to get her
to the very h of her abilities because she I
mean it seemed never ending, how much she could do,
how much training she could undertake, how hard she could
(03:20):
push herself.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that's an interesting one. You always aim to get
the most healthy athletes to get the most out of themselves,
you know, that's the role of the coach and erin
she was a bit different because she had quite a
bit of anger, I should say in her. She was
a very passionate athletes in racing, and very sort of
(03:48):
politically conscious as well, and very much knew what was
right and what was wrong, and very outspoken about that.
And one of the things I did, I think in retrospectives,
to help her channel all that energy she had into
her training and into her racing. So I think that
(04:12):
was probably my main contribution, because otherwise she was like
still really whatever you threw at her training wise, she
generally coped with and therefore she was able to sustain
such a high workload that. Yeah, she was well ahead
of the other athletes in those early years.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Oh, she won one hundred and four races out of
one hundred and twenty one that she entered.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yes, since she won ten world championship titles spread over
do that from Spring distance triathon, Standard distance typhon and
iron Man triathon. So she wasn't all around athlete.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So how would you describe the differences between her and
Andrew Hewitt?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, it's difficult to compare. India was a bit like Aaron,
and with her determination eron very much grew as an
athlete and as a person through her athletic career. Andy
(05:21):
I was almost already a complete athlete personality wise in
her early twenties. She's the one athlete I coached who
never really changed her personality, who always stayed the humble,
hard working athletes I got to know in her early twenties,
(05:42):
and she just applied herself and didn't get distracted by
all the noise around her doing really well and going
to be known by the New Zealand public and being
written up in the paper. That never really affected her
in any way, and she always stayed same And that
was one of his strengths.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
When you think back to all the things that you
have learned through experimentation with your sports medicine background as well,
and the fact that you've written about it, The Winning
Edge a complete guide, never ever give up. Question Mark
can't forget that in a biker's tail because it all
mirrors your own career as an athlete as well. If
(06:25):
there's anything that a young aspiring endurance racer needs to know,
they just need to go to any of those books.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right well, yes, I mean it's not just reading the books,
it's also actually doing it and doing it consistently over
and over again. You know, it's it's training and a
lot of people think it's all all glamor and fame,
but ninety nine point nine percent is hard work. As
(06:55):
a coach, what has I've had some of my best time.
I'm sharing information and time with other coaches, not only
from my own sporting discipline, but also from other sporting disciplines,
and for example last year in our run up to
the Paris Olympics, I was able to work very closely
(07:20):
together with Craig Kirkle, who was Hayden Wild's coach, and
Craig Frayne to try and dead coach myself and Dylan McCulloch,
who I coached, to try and concoct the plan to
give Hayden Wilde the best chance to win a medal,
(07:41):
and that meant that Dylan McCulloch had to assist Hayden
halfway the race, fall back and pick him up and
drag him to the front on the bike. And so
that plan we concocted, that plan and to see that
being executed to perfection was one of the best coaching
(08:03):
days of my life. You know, those things matter. So
coaching coaches working together is a very powerful thing. And
you know I like to urge the powers to be
the hps is to keep bringing coaches together. It really works.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Oh clearly it works well. We just wanted to ring
up and congratulate you and acknowledge the recognition that Sport
Canterbury have given you and your reduction into the legends.
Dr John Halliman's and just thank you a for coming
to the phone this morning, but also for your continuing
work in the sport medicine area and the coaching area.
And yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Thank you Leslie.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iart Radio.
Newstalks he'd be. It is eighteen away from nine o'clock
and a very warm welcome to the airwaves. The second
inductee into the sport Canderby Legions, doctor John Helliman's joined us.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, yeah, good morning list Just like.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I asked, Melissa Roscoe, you scrubbed up okay this morning
after that wonderful event.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That's right. That was a total surprise to me. I
had no idea where I was going to rock up to.
It was all very kept. It was kept secret. When
I was told to put up a suit yesterday to
put on a suit, my alarm and they'll started ringing
(00:42):
because I'm not really a sort of person, and so
I wonder what was going on. And then we ended
up first at the airport where my daughter from the
North Island stepped off the plane there, so that was
a lovely surprise. And then we rocked up to the
airport museum and there was all the many of the
(01:03):
athletes I've coached over the years where we're meeting me there.
So that was fantastic and it's all sort of just
sinking in now what happened last night.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, it's just such reward, I mean, not that you
look for that, but when you think of the influence
that you've had, you know, and I think we have
to emphasize that not only did you coach Aaron Baker,
Andrea Hewitt, so many other wonderful athletes, you were a
very very good athlete yourself, and coming over from the
(01:37):
Netherlands when you were twenty five, it was a big risk.
With Ian your wife, well she was your girlfriend then.
But look where you are, two daughters later, four grandchildren
and all the people that you've helped and produced high
performing athletes. It's a phenomenal story.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, this country has done a lot for me, and
it's great that I could have that I could do
something back. We've had a wonderful time here with the athletes.
You know, as a coach, you're only as good as
the athletes you coach, and I've been very lucky and
(02:15):
fortunate to work with some wonderful athletes with some great talents.
So I've been a bit lucky that way as well.
Once you establish a reputation as a coach, and obviously
Aaron was the first one, and I wasn't even her coach.
We were just sort of collaborate us in this new sport.
(02:36):
But because he did so well, we were sort of,
you know, urged into exploring ways of training for this
new event. And so we were ahead of the game
for a few years, and I was happy to share
with others what Aaron and I had learned, and so
that's how it all started. Really, when you think.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
About and I mean, she was a very unique athlete.
She didn't get injured, or certainly didn't get injured very much.
Do you think that you were able to get her
to the very h of her abilities because she I
mean it seemed never ending, how much she could do,
how much training she could undertake, how hard she could
(03:20):
push herself.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that's an interesting one. You always aim to get
the most healthy athletes to get the most out of themselves,
you know, that's the role of the coach and erin
she was a bit different because she had quite a
bit of anger, I should say in her. She was
a very passionate athletes in racing, and very sort of
(03:48):
politically conscious as well, and very much knew what was
right and what was wrong, and very outspoken about that.
And one of the things I did, I think in retrospectives,
to help her channel all that energy she had into
her training and into her racing. So I think that
(04:12):
was probably my main contribution, because otherwise she was like
still really whatever you threw at her training wise, she
generally coped with and therefore she was able to sustain
such a high workload that. Yeah, she was well ahead
of the other athletes in those early years.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Oh, she won one hundred and four races out of
one hundred and twenty one that she entered.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yes, since she won ten world championship titles spread over
do that from Spring distance triathon, Standard distance typhon and
iron Man triathon. So she wasn't all around athlete.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So how would you describe the differences between her and
Andrew Hewitt?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, it's difficult to compare. India was a bit like Aaron,
and with her determination eron very much grew as an
athlete and as a person through her athletic career. Andy
(05:21):
I was almost already a complete athlete personality wise in
her early twenties. She's the one athlete I coached who
never really changed her personality, who always stayed the humble,
hard working athletes I got to know in her early twenties,
(05:42):
and she just applied herself and didn't get distracted by
all the noise around her doing really well and going
to be known by the New Zealand public and being
written up in the paper. That never really affected her
in any way, and she always stayed same And that
was one of his strengths.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
When you think back to all the things that you
have learned through experimentation with your sports medicine background as well,
and the fact that you've written about it, The Winning
Edge a complete guide, never ever give up. Question Mark
can't forget that in a biker's tail because it all
mirrors your own career as an athlete as well. If
(06:25):
there's anything that a young aspiring endurance racer needs to know,
they just need to go to any of those books.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right well, yes, I mean it's not just reading the books,
it's also actually doing it and doing it consistently over
and over again. You know, it's it's training and a
lot of people think it's all all glamor and fame,
but ninety nine point nine percent is hard work. As
(06:55):
a coach, what has I've had some of my best time.
I'm sharing information and time with other coaches, not only
from my own sporting discipline, but also from other sporting disciplines,
and for example last year in our run up to
the Paris Olympics, I was able to work very closely
(07:20):
together with Craig Kirkle, who was Hayden Wild's coach, and
Craig Frayne to try and dead coach myself and Dylan McCulloch,
who I coached, to try and concoct the plan to
give Hayden Wilde the best chance to win a medal,
(07:41):
and that meant that Dylan McCulloch had to assist Hayden
halfway the race, fall back and pick him up and
drag him to the front on the bike. And so
that plan we concocted, that plan and to see that
being executed to perfection was one of the best coaching
(08:03):
days of my life. You know, those things matter. So
coaching coaches working together is a very powerful thing. And
you know I like to urge the powers to be
the hps is to keep bringing coaches together. It really works.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Oh clearly it works well. We just wanted to ring
up and congratulate you and acknowledge the recognition that Sport
Canterbury have given you and your reduction into the legends.
Dr John Halliman's and just thank you a for coming
to the phone this morning, but also for your continuing
work in the sport medicine area and the coaching area.
And yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Thank you Leslie.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iart Radio.
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