Squamish biking coach Joel Harwood has been honoured with a second Cycling Canada coaching award.
The annual awards, which were announced on Jan. 10, recognize people and events that made an outsized impact on the cycling community in 2023.
The two other coaches to receive the award were Petrina Tulissi and Rob Holmgren, both of Ontario.
Coach of the Year winners were chosen through a nomination process supported by their respective athlete or team that won a 2023 Canadian Championship title, according to a Cycling Canada news release.
Harwood was named one of three Coaches of the Year in recognition of his role in Pemberton rider Lucas Cruz’s victory in the Canadian Elite Men Downhill Championship last year.
He also won the Cycling Canada Recognition Award for Coach of the Year in 2017 for his work with beloved local mountain bike UCI downhill world champion that year, Miranda Miller.
"It's always nice to be recognized, right?" Harwood said. "Coaches by nature, we don't really want a bunch of recognition. It's not really asked for. We're not supposed to be the ones being recognized. But it's also nice to get that recognition sometimes, because it's just a confirmation of the good work that you're doing."
This week, Harwood, founder of Squamish's Blueprint Athlete Development, is in Spain working on skill development with athletes with the pro road racing team, GreenEDGE Cycling, but The Squamish Chief caught up with him just before he left.
He said he has coached Cruz, who is now in his early 20s, since the rider was 11 years old.
"It's a little bit more special," Harwood said, "Because I can remember riding with Lucas when he was a little boy."
The long-term transformation of an athlete is what is rewarding about being a coach, Harwood added.
"That, for me, is actually what's most special about my job in general. And Lucas is kind of a reflection of that," he said. "I've ... been able to be a part of his journey in sport for such a long time. That, to me, is really, really meaningful."
Asked what the key was to Cruz's success, Harwood said that the rider personifies "coachable."
"He's just a genuine, really nice, young man," Harwood said.
"No ego, super kind, obviously loves the sport."
Harwood has a background not just in coaching, but in education. He earned a masters of education as well as an honours bachelor of kinesiology. He taught within the Sea to Sky School District for more than a decade, something he has now given up, but work which informs his relationship with athletes.
"My teaching background is the most important thing in my day-to-day work as a coach because it's still teaching. It's maybe a little bit different context and a little bit less traditional, but it's my education background that I pull on more than my physiology background, or more than my technical knowledge of cycling. I feel like it's the exact same job, just the subject is a little bit different."
In a town and corridor with next level elite athletes, pressure can build on young competitors, but despite being recognized for the wins his athletes have achieved, Harwood says he focuses on the person, not the podium.
"I want them to define themselves as a good human being before they define themselves as a good biker, or a good athlete," he said. "I see coaching and what I do less as training bike racers and winning medals, and more as developing good human beings through their passion, which is cycling. And of course, keeping everything in perspective along the way is super important."
Harwood owns Union: Health & Performance a physio clinic and he said while he got the award from Cycling Canada, the team he works with to support athletes, such as at the clinic, deserve a nod too.
"It's not just me that supports Lucas. He's got a team behind him. He's got a great family. And it's the same with me. I've got a great group of people that I work with. I probably also want to give a big thanks to my wife for her support, because without her behind me, I wouldn't have been able to pursue this relatively non-traditional career,” he said.
