CHRISTINE FLETCHER, Head Coach & Founder

How Brite Came to Be…
Along the way, many have offered me platforms to stand on as a young athlete, student of exercise physiology, entrepreneur and Coach. Becoming a professional dedicated Coach to endurance athletes thankfully didn’t happen over night. It happened over years of learning, listening, doing, racing, training, loving, suffering, understanding, not understanding, testing and embracing. My expertise as a Coach comes from years of being a sponge to information and hundreds of endurance races and thousands of training hours and mentors sharing and coaches guiding me and teachers teaching me. As ancient as the concept of “endurance” is, we are all still learning how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. But, what we know for sure is the individuality of prescribing progressive training concepts to athletes matters most. In fact, only matters. And to those that instilled knowledge in me, I am forever grateful. My goal is now to carefully pass along this knowledge to athletes with endurance goals of any nature and to explain the big picture as much as communicate the minutiae of details. This approach reaches far beyond training plans and workouts. It goes deeper than files and garmins. It starts with a relationship based on trust, communication and sliding pegs in sand. It covers lifestyle, time constraints, bodily constraints, nutrition, global wellness, hormonal balance, community engagement and a true honest real connection with purpose. My longevity in this sport comes from an ebb and flow of priorities and commitment routed in purpose and drive. Everyone deserves to experience something sustainable.

To touch on my experience: I am the founder of Brite Coaching. I spent 18+ years racing as a pro cyclist and triathlete when living in Vancouver, BC. I have a degree from McGill University in Exercise Science coupled with a Training Peaks Coaching Certification and USAT Coach Certification if that matters. My real experience and knowledge is based on being in the trenches with 39 Ironman (6 times at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships), countless half IM, marathons, 10km, adventure races, swimruns, road cycling races and criterium, road cycling stage races, nordic skiing loppets and now, more often than not, snowshoe extravaganzas with my golden retriever.

In the fall of 2014, I launched an indoor cycling program for cyclists, triathletes and mountain bikers. The success of this program spun off into specialized training camps, beginner workshops, women’s only cycling programs, corporate coaching and team coaching. With the rise in Zwift and various training apps, we wrapped this program up to embrace the new training habits of time starved athletes. I work best with corporate executives, highly functioning individuals and spirited athletes determined to work on something together.

"Having completing over 39 Ironman events and 200+ Half Ironman & Olympic races, my pursuit of the ultimate human potential drives me. When I set goals I do everything I can to achieve them. This focus and energy is how I coach.  The first step is getting to know the athlete as both an individual and a competitor. I do everything I can to learn & understand what it takes to bring out the very best in athletes I coach. Over the years I have been coached by some of the sports top coaches from Joel Filliol (Elite Coach), Julie-Anne White (Top Pro Ironman Athlete, Paul Cross, Barb & Larry Zimich (Professional Masters Cyclists), Brian MacDonald, Kevin Purcell, Clint Lien, Peter Reid, Jasper Blake (Ironman Champion), Dr. Ben Sporer (Exercise Physiologist). I have worked with Sports Nutritionists, Biomechanists, Sports Medicine Doctors, Sports Therapists and Sports Psychologists. They all played an important role in shaping how I now share this invaluable knowledge with my athletes to be the best they can be." CONTACT: christine@brite.coach

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1. 39-time IRONMAN Competitor (18 years as a Professional)

2. Raced 6x in the World Championship Hawaii Ironman (4x as a professional)

3. Ironman Mont Tremblant 1st Female, overall 2018

4. Ironman Mont Tremblant 70.3 2nd Female, 1st F45-49 2018

5. Wildflower Overall Female AG Champion 2018

6. Lake Sonoma 50 Ultra, 9th Female

7. Ironman Canada 2013, 4th Place & 2014, 6th Place

8. Half Ironman Vancouver 2013, 4th Place

9. Half Ironman Oliver 2013, 1st Place

10. Skate Ski Loppet (50km), Washington, 1st Place

11. Skate Ski Loppet (30km), Whistler Olympic Park, 4th Place

12. Rev 3 Venice Florida 2012, 8th Place

13. Ironman Muskoka 70.3 2012, 5th Place

14. Ironman Timberman 70.3 2012, 4th Place

15. Vancouver Olympic Triathlon 2012, 1st Place

16. Subaru Olympic Triathlon 2012, 1st Place

17. Oliver Sprint Triathlon 2012, 1st Place

18. Ironman Honu 70.3 2011, 3rd Place

19. Ironman Lake Stevens 2011, 12th Place

20. Subaru Victoria Half Ironman 2010, Champion

21. Ironman Boise 70.3 2010, 4th Place

22. Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 2011, 4th Place

23. Ironman Miami 70.3 2010, 8th Place

24. Ironman Syracuse 70.3 2010, 8th Place

25. Desert Half Ironman Champion 2011

26. Ironman Arizona 2009, 10th Place

27. Ironman Coeur D'Alene 2009, 8th Place

28. Ironman Austin 70.3 2009, 8th Place

29. Ironman Lake Placid 2009, 11th Place

30. Ironman California 70.3 2008, 2009, 2010

31. Ironman Canada 2007, 11th place

32. Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens, 7th place

33. Oliver Half Ironman 2007, Champion

34. Ironman Arizona 2007, 6th place

35. Ironman 70.3 Baja 2006, 8th place

36. Ironman Coeur D’Alene 2006, 10h place

37. Ironman Canada 2005, 3rd place

38. Ironman Canada 2004, 8th

39. Desert Half Ironman Champion 2005

40. New Balance Half Ironman Champion 2004

41. Columbia Plateau Champion 2004

42. Female Triathlete of the Year 2003 by Triathlon BC Columbia

43. Female Triathlete of the Year 2003 by Triathlon Canada

44. Inside Triathlon Magazine’s top North American age-group performer

45. Provincial Triathlon Age Group Champion ‘03

46. National Triathlon Age Group Champion ‘03

47. World Triathlon Championships (New Zealand) ‘03, 4th

BRITNI BAKK

JOANIE CARON

Joanie has been racing at the international level for over 12 yrs, wearing the Maple Leaf at prestigious events such as World Cup and Pan Am Championship/Pan Am Games. Travelling across the world to live her passion of bike racing is something she is very grateful for. From European Spring Classics to the major criteriums in the US, she has stepped on the podium in major events, partially due to her agressive style of racing and ability to place in a sprint finish. Not only she established herself as one of the up and coming sprinter in North America, but also competed in different disciplines at the International, such as track and cyclo-cross. 

In 2014, after many yrs racing for Team Canada and Professional Teams, she took an opportunity as tandem pilot racing with 2012 Paralympic Road Champion Robbi Weldon. In that discipline, she earnt 3X National Champion jerseys, a World Cup podium and a medal at the PanAm Games. The pinnacle of her career was in 2016, where she represented Canada at the Rio Paralympic Games. 

In parallel to her racing career, Joanie goth er Master’s Degree in Kinesiology, more precisely studying the Oxygen consumption (VO2) and Heart Rate kinetics at Laval University. She also is a columnist for VeloMag, and wrote over 100 articles for coaches of all sport in Applied Physiology. Now established in the West Coast, she runs the PowerWatts studio at Fortius Sport & Health, where she also works as an Applied Exercise Physiologist. That said, more than science, she enjoys sharing her passion for cycling and currently competes on the domestique and North American level with her local trade team, Crit Nasty. 

She gives credit to the coaches and mentors she worked with in her racing and professional/academic career, such as Eric Van den Eynde, Guy Thibault and Tina Pic to name few. 

Career highlights

• World Cup Bronze Medalist (Tandem TT Maniago 2017)

• 3X National Champion (2015 Road and TT; 2017 Road Race)

• 1st Awesome Grand Prix Vancouver (2018)

• Overall Winner BC Superweek (2012)

• 2ndNational Championships Criterium (2014)

• 2ndFitchburg Lonsjo Classic stage 1 NRC (2010)

• 2ndCharlotte Criteium (2014)

• 12th Road Race Rio Paralympic Games (2016)

• 3rd Redlands Bicycle Classic NRC (2012)

• 3rd Tour de Bloom Criterium (2018)

• Bronze Medalist Para Panamerican Games (Toronto 2015)

• 3rd USA Crits Old Pueblo Criterium (2013)

• 3rd USA Crits Gasparilla Criterium (2014)

• 3rd USA Crits Delray Twilight (2013)

• 5th World Cup Time Trial (Yverdon-Les-Bains Switzerland 2015)

• 5th Redlands Bicycle Classic Criterium NRC (2011)

• 5th Halle-Buzingen UCI 1.2 (2012)

• 5th Enumclaw TT (2018)

• 5th Tour of America’s Dairyland stage 9 (2018)

• 6th Gastown GP (2012)

• 8th PoCo Grand Prix BC Superweek (2018)

• 10th Delta RR UCI BC Superweek (2018)

Academic Background

• M.Sc. Kinesiology, Université Laval, Québec (2012)

• B.Sc. Kinesiology, Université Laval, Québec (2012)

CHRISTINE SUTER

Christine has been working with athletes of all abilities for the past 20 years as a BC Registered Massage Therapist, coach and personal trainer, and now as a mental performance consultant intern.  Christine has competed nationally and internationally in many sports, including water polo, outrigger canoeing and triathlon.  Her passion for triathlon led to establishing her own coaching business 10 years ago. Over the years Christine has coached athletes of all abilities and age groups.  Her desire to become a better coach and work more with the mental side of sport, and performance in all facets of life, lead her to go back to school and pursue her Masters of Counselling Psychology.   

Christine volunteered with Douglas College Athletics men’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams as a mental performance consultant intern under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Laura Farres, a professor at Douglas College and Mental Performance Consultant with Mind in Motion Consulting.   She has also volunteered locally with Whistler Secondary School girls’ basketball team, and has been doing individual consulting with local athletes.   As an endurance athlete herself, she understands the mental demands of training for and competing in long endurance sports and how developing the skills and learning how to manage mental and emotional factors can help enhance performance.   As athletes we all learn how to change a flat on our bike, make adjustments in the swim to find the right set of feet to follow, work on our nutrition to help ensure we get to the finish line and work hard on the physical side of our sport.  What we miss is practicing the skills to manage our emotions, stay confident and motivated, control concentration and communicate well with our coaches.  Christine’s goal as a coach is to work collaboratively with her athletes, understand where they are with their physical and mental skills relative to their goals, help develop the skills to enhance performance, become a mentally tough athlete, and develop athlete self-reliance.  Christine has coached numerous athletes from the very beginner to the elite.  Her coaching style is able to adapt to the specific needs of the athlete.

Athletic Accomplishments

• Completed 9 Ironman’s, Qualified for World Championships 2006

• 2005 and 2008 competed as part of Canada’s National Age Group Olympic Distance Triathlon Team

• Completed multiple 50km Ultra’s and the Miwok 100km

• Boston to Big Sur Challenge 2015 – 2 marathons, 2 coasts, 6 days apart

• 2x finisher of the Across the Bay Challenge- 10km swim West Vancouver to Kits

JEFF WERNER 

Jeff is a rouleur with 12 years of road racing experience and 20 years of riding hard winters, hot summer criteriums, and mountain passes of BC. Between a junior career with the Victoria Wheelers, the BC Provincial Team, and trade teams from Acheson & Co. to Garneau and, now, Langlois Brown Racing, Jeff completed a B.Des at Emily Carr University and a BA in journalism from the University of Victoria. He's bike toured extensively around the province, to Mexico (twice), and across the Philippines and Indonesia. Racing took him as far as the Tour de l'Abitibi, the Tour de Beauce, and the Tour of Rwanda, and he still stacks up wins in Cat 1 crits from Enumclaw to Race the Ridge. He operates cycling accessory company Local Knowledge.