So they felt fortunate when they and McQuillan “stumbled across each other”.
McQuillan has a PhD in exercise physiology and an interest in strength and conditioning training, and nutrition.
He moved back to Gisborne with his partner, Marika Avison, in December as a “lifestyle choice”. He had been lecturing — in exercise physiology and nutrition — with the University of Waikato and, before that, the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
“We have a lot of good athletes in Gisborne, but many don’t make it to the next level,” McQuillan said.
While a lot of factors were behind the drop-off in sporting participation, he was trying to help athletes educate themselves in sports science, and give them opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.
McQuillan, son of Margaret and the late Pat McQuillan, went to Campion College and says the height of his own sporting endeavours was selection as goalkeeper for the Poverty Bay under-13 football team. But his interest in sport fed a curiosity about how science could help improve performance. That led to a degree from AUT, after which he began working with a few teams. In this work, coaches sometimes asked questions he didn’t feel confident in answering, so he undertook a Masters degree to learn more.
His Master of Health Science degree, with an exercise physiology major, opened his mind to more questions, which he sought to answer with more study.
“My PhD thesis looked at the effectiveness of beetroot juice supplementation on cycling performance,” McQuillan said.
“The nitrate content of beetroot improves the ability of oxygen-rich blood to travel around the body . . . it improves vasodilation (the dilation of blood vessels, which — among other things — decreases blood pressure).”
McQuillan said that in addition to beetroot juice’s “very high” antioxidant capacity and its blood-pressure-lowering ability, the potential health benefits of beetroot supplementation were “massive” for people with complaints such as peripheral arterial disease (poor circulation to the limbs).
“A glass of beetroot juice also counts as one of your ‘five plus a day’ servings of fresh fruit and vegetables,” he said.
Among the outcomes of his studies was a change in perception.
“When I finished my degree I thought I knew everything,” he said.
“I did my master’s and found I didn’t know that much, and doing the PhD I realised I knew next to nothing.
“That realisation is humbling, but I am still driven by that curiosity of 22 years ago. I realised it was essential to keep learning, asking questions and challenging myself, and to be prepared to fail occasionally in order to grow.
“Improving athletic performance is multi-layered and no one training method or nutritional approach is right for everybody.”
McQuillan has previously contracted to High Performance Sport New Zealand and worked with elite athletes, notably in kayaking, cycling, yachting and triathlon.
Additionally, for the past 14 years, he has run Enduranz Sports Consultancy Services. Since his return to Gisborne he has worked with athletes from Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club, Gisborne Judo Club and the 2019 Tairawhiti Rising Legends squad . . . and now elite waka ama paddlers.
The masks the athletes wore during testing at the weekend were part of the process of measuring their VO2max, or maximal oxygen uptake. It’s a measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use during intense aerobic exercise, and helps establish individualised training zones for the athlete.
“The event they are doing is two to two and a half hours long,” McQuillan said.
“It’s important they can hold a high percentage of their VO2max for that time. In races of that length, the quickest and most efficient way to get from a to b is at a steady-state intensity. If they race too hard initially, they’ll need to slow down and let the body recover. It’s about trying to find a comfortable rate to race at and, as this is a team event, racing as a team.
“This is informing their training on and off the water. The aim is to provide heart-rate and power output (measure of workload) markers to train at that will enable an increase in VO2max and enhance the athlete’s ability to exercise closer to that V02max for longer.”
McQuillan said most people could exercise at their VO2max for three to eight minutes, and good endurance athletes were able to hold an intensity of 90 percent of their VO2max for up to 60 minutes.
“Two key physiological traits seen in the world’s best endurance athletes are a high VO2max and an ability to maintain a high percentage of that VO2max for long periods,” McQuillan said.
The testing was done over two days of the three-day training camp.
All seven members of the J19 men’s team and six of the seven J19 women’s team members were present.
