Meet the Krankin’ Team!
We have an awesome team of very skilled riders coaching the Krankin' Kids each term. Our coaches all have one thing in common - they’re extremely passionate about mountain biking! A varied bunch, they have many different skills and experiences between them. Have a read and get to know more about them here…
Emma Bawtree
Krankin’ Kids Manager and Senior Coach
Emma is passionate about riding her bike, and has been riding mountain bikes for over 20 years! Emma has a strong background of racing, six of those years racing on the National Mountain Bike Circuit. Emma started Krankin’ Kids 3 years ago after recognising a demand for junior mountain bike coaching. Emma loves the fact that the programme has been met with such enthusiasm from so many junior riders, and is looking forward to many more terms of fun and good times on two wheels!
Qualifications:
NZOIA MTB Level 1 & 2 and an NZOIA Assessor
PMBIA Level 1
PHEC
Ebony Tanzen
Operations Manager and Senior Coach
New to our team this year, Ebony’s come in with 20 years of MTB experience, despite being just 24! Ebony’s competed in Australia’s National Series circuit in both XC and Enduro, but is now focussing on the simply fun of riding and the community it creates.
Her passion for MTB hasn’t waned, and is now super excited to pass on this knowledge and general stoke for the outdoors to Nelson’s amazing rangatahi.
Qualifications:
PMBIA Level 1
Outdoor First Aid - Peak Safety
Bachelors degree in Environment & Sustainability
NELSON TASMAN COACHES
Ronnie Baker
Senior Coach - Nelson
Ronnie has been riding bikes since before she can remember and bikes are central to her life. Bikes bring adventure, build confidence, develop skills, create community and promote wellbeing - basically all of the good stuff! Passing on this love of bikes by helping to up-skill the younger generation is why Ronnie loves coaching for Krankin’ Kids! Ronnie has been in Nelson for just over a year after relocating from Queenstown where she enjoyed organising weekly women’s rides, volunteering at events and sitting on the committee of the Queenstown MTB Club. An asset to our team - welcome Ronnie!
(Amazing pic of Ronnie from @authenticas)
Qualifications: 2 Day Outdoor First Aid (Search & Rescue)
Kayla Russell
Senior Coach - Nelson
A superstar rider turned superstar coach! Kayla’s done it all when it comes to riding. Having grown up riding and racing cross-country on the national circuit, Kayla now loves nothing more than time exploring on bikes with friends. Whether that be sending grade 6 trails or bike packing wherever the wind takes her. With so many skills to share and the purest of hearts, it’s easy to see why the kids love riding with Kayla!
Harry Browne
Junior Coach - Richmond
Harry has been a Krankin' Kid, Krankin' Trainee and now a Krankin' COACH! Harry is energetic and uses that energy to motivate the kids on that up hill grind ready to smash that down hill!! He is fantastic at breaking down skills and nailing those demo's.
We were so excited to see Harry graduate as a coach and know he will continue do epic things in the MTB world!
Lisa Hill
Senior Coach - Kaiteri
Lisa has a heart of gold and a huge passion for Mountain Biking. Lisa has been coaching for us for around a year now and always puts 100% into her sessions. Her passion is contagious and her riders always come back with huge smiles, feeling proud of everything they have achieved. We are very lucky to have her on our team, you are awesome Lisa!
Fern Cameron
Junior Coach - Nelson and Rabbit Island
Fern loves anything and everything outdoorsy, but especially mountain biking!! She does a bit of racing, but mostly just shreds for the fun of it.
An integral part of our caoching team this past year - Fern’s thrived with our younger crew, seeing how they’ve grown in confidence and developed as riders.
Thanks for being you Fern and such a valuable part of the Krankin' Kids Coaching team!
Suz Clark
Senior Coach - Kaiteri
Suz is a brilliant coach who puts 100% into helping riders smash their goals. Suz is always smiling and brings the positive vibes to every ride. Send a nervous beginner with Suz and they always come back full of confidence and frothing for more Mountain Biking! Thanks for being part of the Krankin' Kids team Suz, you are awesome!!
Stacey Walden
Senior Coach - Richmond
Stacey’s been the perfect coach for our beginner riders entering this amazing sport. Having been riding for 30 years and working as a teacher for 20, she’s passionate about the outdoors and getting kids inspired about it too.
Her energy, caring nature and love for the sport has already helped our riders newer to biking build their confidence immensely!
Rio Innes
Junior Coach - Kaiteri
Rio is a fantastic rider and his hard work has made him a top coach and favourite amongst our riders. Rio is patient, engaging and can give a mean demo! Thanks for being an amazing anchor to our Kaiteri Krankin’ Whanāu, Rio. Excited to see what else you can achieve!
Annie Swainn
Junior Coach - Richmond
Having trained up through our Wāhine MTB coach starter kit, Annie excelled and is now a favourite coach amongst our Richmond crew! Annie builds a great rapport with the kids and really enjoys seeing riders challenge themselves and achieve more than they first though possible! Annie is great at demonstrating skills and talking riders through every step of the skill till they nail it!
Blenheim Coaches
Lachlan McNabb
Senior Coach - Blenheim
Lachlan loves to ride and race on the trails in Blenheim and beyond. After initially attending Krankin’ Kids, Lachlan soon realized he would like to teach others and is now a favourite amongst our Blenheim cohort. When coaching, Lachlan loves seeing kids getting excited over their progression and his favourite part of coaching is seeing kids love the sport as much as he does.
Ryan Lock
Senior Coach - Blenheim
Ryan thoroughly enjoys a blast on the mountain bike, but is a keen road cyclist at heart. He has also done a bit of bike packing and touring in his time. He just loves bikes! Ryan also works for Ride On in Blenheim, teaching bike skills and road rules to primary school students. Someone so keen on bikes can’t help but spread their enthusiasm for all things two-wheeled to our next generation of riders!
Qualifications:
BSc (Hons); Dip Teaching; Nat. Cert. in Recreation and Sport (Cycle Skills Instuctor L3)
Fred de Zwart
Senior Coach - Blenheim
Fred has been riding mountain bikes since before they existed!! He started mountain biking at high school and raced through university. He landed a job as a bike mechanic before spending 6 months cycle touring around Europe. Scotland was also blessed with this bike mechanic before he returned to NZ.
Now, with a family full of keen riders, he loves exploring all the amazing trails we’ve got in this part of the world.