History

Front Runner Sports Management has gradually progressed to a world class position in running and triathlon coaching, consultancy and professional services.

As the name suggests, the company is founded with a commitment to staying ahead of the pack and delivering market leading running and triathlon services to our valued clients, referral partners and industry stakeholders.

We do this with a community based ethos which seeks to help all those with a passion for improving their health and fitness from a base in Perth, Western Australia.

Key chronological points in our history are noted below:

  • 2002- Front Runner Sports was founded by Managing Director, Rafael Baugh (B.Sc Physio). Initially, the company develop running events in and around Western Australia. Highlights in event consulting have included concept design of Australia’s richest Mile running event, the Leonora Golden Gift, the Lest We Forget Fun Run and the Perth Mile Series (2002-2004).
  • 2006- Front Runner Sports expands to professional services, providing physiotherapy, remedial massage and group running coaching. With a clear vision of an inclusive model and up to date, evidence based service delivery.
  • 2007- Tailored coaching programmes became available as clients of all ages and abilities demand more specific training solutions for their personal goals and objectives. We have since grown to be Australia’s most trusted online and in person coaching team with over 250 active clients. Our athletes have collectively delivered countless new milestones and personal bests, 61 individuals have run sub 3hrs for the Marathon & 4 have gone sub 9 for the Ironman.
  • 2009- Front Runner Sports moves to The Running Centre in West Perth, adding movement analysis and sports science services including 2D clinical gait analysis, shoe fitting and lactate threshold testing. We also add two young staff members, Marc See (B.Sc Physio) and Ben Green (B.Sc Hons, Level 4 IAAF) who have gone on to become line managers and contribute immeasurably to the quality and scale of our programme.
  • 2010- We expand our recreational running squads across multiple locations targeting local events such as the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, HBF Run for a Reason and WAMC Darlington Half Marathon. These are delivered across three separate squad offerings- FRESH Women’s Only; Run Club and Advanced Run Club
  • 2011- Event commentary, Corporate consultancy and keynote speaking become a focus as the company began broadening it’s reach into education and workshops on a range of running and health related subjects. This has seen us work with some of the world’s largest corporate entities as well as government departments and industry stakeholders such as TWA, AWA, Athletics Australia and the IAAF.
  • 2013- With a vision to create a sustainable and considered Junior development model that respects each child as an individual, we begin research, planning and development of a turnkey Front Runner Junior Pathway. We commence with our school aged programme “Trackstars” (6-11 years, 2014). This has subsequently been followed by the rolling out of our Junior Development Squad (11-14 year olds, 2016) and Junior Emerging Squad (14-17 year olds, 2018). Each week during a school term our team now engage with upwards of 400 junior athletes.
  • 2015- We invest in a training camp facility in the South West of Western Australia as part of a long term strategic athlete development plan.
  • 2016- We establish a second set of consulting rooms and rehabilitation Gymnasium at Lake Monger, Wembley allowing us to expand our Physiotherapy, Strength & Conditioning and Athletic Development programmes significantly.
  • 2018- From a state based development model our athletes had progressed significantly to having won over 70 senior elite state medals. In 2018 however, we see a breakthrough to national and international quality, in particular with Thomas Bruins finishing as the World #1 Powerman Duathlete; Nic Harman breaking the West Australian Half marathon record and being selected to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Half Marathon Championships and Matt Felton winning bronze in the T46 category at the IPC World Marathon Cup.
  • The future- Our high quality and versatile team, combined with systems and infrastructure leaves us in a very strong position for the sustained growth in the local community. We have also taken the time to develop extensive commercial and managerial connection within the international market to ensure our athletes can achieve sustainable Olympic level performance from a Perth base without compromise.