Triathlon NZ: An interview with THE GM of Performance – Hamish Carter

“It’s a difficult journey for any athlete who tries to be the best in the world. There’s only one guarantee for pretty much all athletes, and that is that a significant chunk of their career is going to be based around not performing as well as they’d like. It’s a really tough environment – you work so hard but there are no guarantees,” says Hamish Carter, gold medallist at the Athens 2004 Olympics and GM of Performance at Triathlon NZ.

In this role, it is Hamish’s job to see that New Zealand’s triathletes are on the right path to achieving their professional goals, but also to coordinate athlete and coach support, such as arranging training partners or facilities for NZ athletes overseas.

“For Triathlon NZ’s high performance programme, we receive government funding to support athletes win on the world stage – how athletes are entered into events, how teams or athletes are selected, and support for the World Champs, Commonwealth Games, and the Olympics. With the money we have left over, we administer core functions and aim to support athletes to achieve their very best when the time comes to race.”

This proactive support is something that only started to come about while Hamish was winding down his career, with greater onus on individual responsibility in his day.

“When I was an athlete, there was no high performance programme – you just did it yourself. You had to really own your decision-making and figure out how to raise enough money to get overseas. Luckily, toward the end of my career, Triathlon NZ were in a position where they could play a bigger role. They started to provide camps overseas, and we started to get more support, and that gave more athletes the opportunity to get involved.”

From Rick Wells and Erin Baker, to Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty, to Hayden Wilde’s bronze in Tokyo 2020 New Zealand has a long and storied history in triathlon, with much of the sport’s success sprouting through grassroots programmes such as the Weet-Bix TRYathlon.

“I think there are a lot of opportunities to get involved in triathlon for young people, even though a lot of events have been cancelled. The Weet-Bix TRYathlon is still going strong along with smaller school triathlons, and the high performance squad has development squads that young people can qualify for to receive support. Like most sports, I think we would like to be able to do more.”

As part of Suzuki’s partnership with Triathlon NZ, Hamish drives a Suzuki Vitara – it’s great, he says, for his regular trips between Auckland and Cambridge, and for transporting his bikes and surf ski around.

“I know Suzuki does a lot for sport across NZ. We feel very fortunate to have their support, and to have had it for a number of years. We couldn’t operate in the sport as we do, and we couldn’t have been as successful as we have been, without that support. But it’s not only support – it goes more than sponsorship. I think these companies are an important part of the triathlon community. It has been a real investment in supporting triathlon in NZ, and it makes a huge difference. We are hugely appreciative of that, and long may it continue.”

As we head into summer, and the northern parts of the country start to open up, Hamish has a few words of advice for prospective athletes. First, set a goal, as it gives you something to work toward, while the second is to join an event.

“Events are such a massive part of living in NZ. The organisers that run these events are not often celebrated, and they’ve had a pretty tough couple of years. So, get into some events, get some people together – it gives you a purpose to get out and exercise, but it also brings a social aspect and fun, which is the whole reason why we play sport. Go as fast or as slow as you want, but just take part.”