More than 20 speakers will be presenting and/or leading clinics and workshops at RACE-MANIA geared to helping you prepare for the start of the new season. Topics include training, injury prevention, nutrition and much, much more. Speakers are shown below and scroll below the photos for a brief bio for each. Click here to register to attend this year’s event!
- BRENDAN AYLWARD
- DR. BRIAN BILCHIK
- CHRISTIAN BOUCHER
- KEITH CALLAHAN
- JAMES CASTRELLO
- COLIN COOK
- MATT DENNING
- NANCY GOMES
- JOE KOUDELKA
- KRISTEN LAMB
- ARNAR LARUSSON
- DAVE McGILLVRAY
- TONY RICH
- KYLE ROBIDOUX
- ANNE ROLLINS
- PETER RUSSO
- EMILY SAUL
- MIKE SILVA
- KAREN SMYERS
- CHELSEA SODARO
- SUSAN SOTIR
- VINCE VACCARO
BRENDAN AYLWARD: Brendan is owner of Unified Health and Performance, an inclusive strength and conditioning facility in Massachusetts, and the Executive Director of AdaptX, an education and research-oriented non-profit with a mission to make the fitness industry accessible for individuals of all abilities. As an athlete, he’s completed more than 100 races with Team Hoyt New England, pushing his friend, Jacob. The duo will be attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon this Spring at the Martha’s Vineyard Marathon.
DR. BRIAN BILCHIK: Brian Z. Bilchik, MD grew up in Johannesburg South Africa and did his medical training at University of Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, graduating in 1989. He did his residency in Internal Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and his Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. Dr. Bilchik is Board Certified in Cardiovascular Disease, Internal Medicine, Echocardiography and Nuclear Cardiology. He is Director of the Lown Cardiovascular Group, Boston Massachusetts and a Member of the American College of Cardiology Sports Cardiology Division. His focus is – Sports Cardiology, Wellness and Prevention, General Cardiology, Noninvasive Diagnostics and Management of Cardiovascular Disease. He has worked nationally and internationally in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
CHRISTIAN BOUCHER: Christian is a Certified Athletic Trainer and Licensed Physical Therapist with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy with TB12. Originally from Dover, New Hampshire, Christian earned a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from the University of New Hampshire and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of New England. Outside of TB12, he enjoys snowboarding, boating, hiking, and hanging out at the beach.
KEITH CALLAHAN: Keith is the creator COR-XT and founder of Elite Sports Performance and Physical Therapy Centers with nearly 25 years of experience as physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist. Keith began his career working in the NFL as a physical therapist and then founded a practice that unites physical therapy, fitness and performance training. Keith has worked with many athletes from professional to the beginner athlete trying to complete their 1st 5K run.
JAMES CASTRELLO: Head Body Coach TB12 Foxboro, James has a Master of Science in Applied Nutrition and is a Certified Athletic Trainer and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He is from Lynn, Massachusetts, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from the University of Southern Maine and a Master of Science in Applied Nutrition with a concentration in Sports and Performance from Northeastern University.
COLIN COOK: Proud Father of 4 (Currently 10, 8, 6, and 5 years old), Tech Geek For a Cyber Security Company, Triathlon Coach (USAT LII, Ironman, USAT Youth & Junior Certified Coach), Wellness Center Owner – Peak Recovery And Health Center in Manchester, NH Competitive Age Group Triathlete – Ranked #1 in USAT’s Men’s 40-44 Age Group in 2022, 19x IM Finisher, 7x Ironman World Championship finisher, NorthEast MultiSport Triathlon Club President, Cohost of the Age Grouper For Life Podcast, Certified Mental Performance Coach and Youth Sports Coach
MATT DENNING: Head Body Coach TB12 Boston, Matt is a Licensed Physical Therapist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. His favorite athlete is Jim Kelly because of his perseverance through so many difficult times, both on-and-off-the-field.
NANCY GOMES: Nancy is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) with a Master of Science (MSc) in Nutrition for Human Performance and is the Founder & Owner of Nutrify Performance Nutrition for Women which provides science-backed sports nutrition assessment & coaching for female athletes seeking to improve performance. She’s also an Adjunct Lecturer in the MSc, Nutrition for Human Performance Program at Lasell University.
JOE KOUDELKA: Joe is Assistant Head Body Coach with TB12 and is a Licensed Physical Therapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Outside of The TB12 Center, he enjoys playing sports and being involved in youth ministry.
KRISTEN LAMB: Kristen has been coaching triathlon since 2012 and holds certifications from USA Triathlon and Ironman University. Passionate in helping others succeed in the sport, she has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities; those who are just getting involved in the sport and veteran athletes looking to secure a spot at a World Championship race. Kristen has coached countless athletes across finish lines on the local stage and around the globe including many at the World Championship level. She has competed with Team USA in Auckland, New Zealand and London; has completed numerous IRONMAN distance races, including multiple finishes at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, HI. In addition, Kristen has been named USA Triathlon All American for over a decade (2011 – 2022)
ARNAR LARUSSON: Arnar is co-Founder and CEO of Tyme Wear where he leads the product development of a wearable technology that accurately measures fitness level and individualizes endurance training. He has worked with some of the world’s leading sports scientists, professional endurance athletes, and their coaches to create a practical technology that accurately assesses individual fitness level and customizes training to it. Prior to starting Tyme Wear, he worked at Harvard University where he helped develop the world’s first soft exoskeleton that was able to lower the metabolic cost of walking. Prior to that, he helped develop prosthetics for amputee Paralympians. His experiences developing devices to make humans more metabolically efficient showed him the large gap in accuracy between lab measurements and devices available to athletes.
DAVE McGILLVRAY: Race Director, philanthropist, motivational speaker, accomplished athlete. Dave McGillivray is a professional with a purpose. From his extraordinary 1978 run across the U.S. to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to serving as technical director then race director of the BAA Boston Marathon since the 1980s, McGillivray has helped organize more than 1,400 mass participatory events since founding DMSE Sports in 1981, while raising millions for worthy causes close to his heart.
TONY RICH: Tony is the Founder and Managing Director of EventHorizon endurance sport. He is an 11x Iron Distance Triathlon Finisher and is the Guinness World Record Holder for the fastest time for an Indoor IRONMAN Distance Triathlon (07:59:00). Tony is a USAT Level II Certified Coach, Certified IRONMAN Coach, a USA Cycling Level 3 Certified Coach, a USMS Certified Master Swim coach and certified with the American Red Cross as a Water Safety Instructor (WSI) and Waterfront Lifeguard. He’s also a Certified Nutritionist and Sports Nutritionists with the International Sports Science Association (ISSA) and a Precision Nutrition Level 1 Nutritionist.
KEITH ROBIDOUX: Keith is an endurance athlete who runs ultra-marathons, hikes, and alpine skis. He is the former director of United in Stride and has worked and played in the adaptive sports space for 15 years. Kyle is a sponsored athlete with Athletic Brewing Company, Ultimate Direction, and Topo Athletic. He has completed 5 100-mile races and 8 Boston Marathons.
ANNE ROLLINS: founder of embodyFitness, an online personal coaching organization offering programs in fitness and health, helps individuals move from rollercoaster dieting and exhaustion to an energized sustainably healthy lifestyle. As a dietitian for QT2 SyStems and the Core Diet, Anne supports athletes with day to day healthful eating as well as race fueling and performance based weight management. Anne received her Master of Science, Nutrition and Dietetics from NYU, is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian and Nutritionist in the state of Massachusetts, a USAT certified Level 1 Coach and Certified Personal Trainer, Yoga Instructor and Mindset Coach.
PETER RUSSO: Peter has been a swim/triathlon coach for 15+ years. He is a fully Certified SwimSmooth coach (www.swimsmooth.com), USMS Level 2 coach, USAT Level 2 coach, TrainPeaks Level 2 coach and IRONMAN certified coach.
EMILY SAUL: A Sport Psychology Coach and founder of E Saul Movement, Emily holds a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology, and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She has a deep desire to help people integrate their athlete-selves and human-selves, to find and unleash the potential inside of them. She deeply enjoys her private practice working with athletes from a wide variety of sports, including a strong breadth of runners. She led the November Project in Boston for eight years, a free fitness movement, where she motivated and challenged athletes of all ability levels and walks of life to engage in and get the most out of fitness while harnessing the power of community. She was a Division I collegiate rower, coached Strength & Conditioning at Harvard for seven years, and is an avid marathon runner on road and trail. Her TEDxBoston talk teaches about the power of developing a practice by sharing lessons from her own 10+ years of daily pushups. She also spent a decade as a facilitator and educator on the relationship between trauma and play in children’s lives, at the Life is Good Playmakers, a non-profit organization based in Boston. She has a unique perspective on the essential role that movement plays in human well-being, and offers an important voice to the conversation about how we use movement to foster growth and connection, and to establish new norms of living meaningful lives.
MIKE SILVA: Creator of RUNstrong®, a comprehensive conditioning program for runners, and founder of FOUNDATIONperformance Sports Medicine, a 20-year, multi-state physical therapy practice. He is a physical therapist, exercise physiologist, and certified strength and conditioning specialist who has been training and creating exercise programs for people of all levels since 1994, and an has been an orthopedic / sports physical therapist since 1999. Most of his career has been in rehabilitating and preventing injuries in the distance running world. Michael’s expertise has made him a sought-after clinician, consultant, guest speaker, and writer in the competitive running world throughout New England and beyond. He has worked with Olympic runners from 4 different countries. Some of his notable clients are Molly Huddle, Emily Sisson, Johnny Gregorek, Kim Smith, Amy Rudolph, Marc Carroll, and more.
KAREN SMYERS: Karen Smyers is a USA Triathlon legend and Hall of Fame inductee, who retains an unquenchable passion for her sport. Competitively, Smyers won the ITU Olympic distance World Championship in both 1990 and 1995, and completed an historic double by taking the Ironman World Championship in that same year of 1995. Smyers also won the 1996 ITU Long Course World Championship in Muncie, Indiana, took seven World Cup wins, Pan American gold in 1995 and 1999, and won the ITU Triathlon World Cup overall title in 1991. Smyers is equally well known for her survival instincts. She came back from a sliced hamstring (suffered while changing a storm window), suffered a collapsed lung and multiple broken bones when hit by an truck on a training ride, shook off a broken collarbone and multiple injuries in a 1999 race crash (which ended her 17-year streak of never dropping out of a race ), and also survived a bout with thyroid cancer in 1999. Now a mother of 2, she is described by ‘Slowtwitch’ as “gracious…, humble…the triathlon star most age groupers would like to have beer with…”
CHELSEA SODARO (2022 Keynote Speaker): In her short career, Chelsea Sodaro has quickly climbed to the top tier of elite triathlon. A runner by background, Chelsea was an All-American at UC Berkeley and a two-time national champion (2012 Road 10k and 2013 Indoor 3k). During her first professional triathlon season in 2018, she won the Huatulco ITU World Cup, placed on the podium her first 70.3, and followed that up with a win at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells. The following year, she won the 2019 Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa (where her 1:16 run split remains as one of the fastest splits in the world), finished as the top American in fourth place at the Ironman 2019 70.3 Championships, and finished the season with two additional 70.3 wins, including the 2019 Ironman South American 70.3 Championship.
After the birth of her daughter in 2021, Chelsea returned to triathlon just 4 months later placing 6th at IM 70.3 Boulder and 2nd, with the second fastest debut time in history, at the IRONMAN European Championship in Hamburg, Germany in a time of 8:36:41. In 2022, Chelsea took 1st place among the professional women at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, HI with a time of 8:33:46 making her the first American woman to win since 1996, the first female to take the IRONMAN world title in her first race since 2007 AND the second mom ever to win!
SUSAN SOTIR: Sue has a PhD in Physical Education with a concentration in Sport and Exercise Psychology and is a USA Triathlon: Level III Certified Coach, a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association and has nearly 30 years of experience in sport, coaching, and education.