Meet Coach Niall
Niall O'Reilly established Team NOR coaching as a passion project in 2016 to help fellow athletes reach their sporting goals. Over the next few years the number of athletes grew along with the number of achievements. Niall has been competing in running, triathlon & adventure racing since 2006.
My Story
Growing up in rural Ireland, like most kids I played GAA for both the school and local club, before moving to Basketball and Athletics. Post school opened opportunities for expanding my competitive opportunities in Cross Country Running & Cross Country Mountain biking. I also swam and played waterpolo with the NUIM Devils Swim team during my college tenure and also as part of the alumni program (competing in both Intervarsity and league level) under Coach Martin "Spitz" McGann.
I started training for my first triathlon in 2006 with my first race early in the 2007 season. Since then I have competed both nationally & internationally in all distances from sprint distances to Ironman distances. I have competed in excess of 20 Ironman 70.3 ( including Lanzarote, Mallorca, Aix En Provence, Luxemburg, The Lost Sheep to name a few) and 5 Ironman (including Lanzarote, Challenge Roth x 2, Frankfurt, Vitoria-Gastiez). Currently a long time member of Pulse Triathlon Club.
I have spent many years racing at a club level in both Ireland and USA as a member of The Calumet Striders (USA), Donore Harriers (ROI) and currently St. Coca's Athletic (ROI) where I am also involved in the coaching side.
I have also completed many Marathons since 2009 including Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) and Dublin City Marathon (DCM) too many times to remember!
Other Endurance challenges over the years include CLEC (Carlingford Lough Endurance Challenge), Quest Adventure races, IMRA Ultra races, MTB Marathon events, Xterra Triathlon.
Combining my vast athletic experience and Engineering/Scientific background, in 2016 I started coaching a small group of runners to achieve their goal of breaking 3 hours in a marathon. Each runner came to me with a marathon time in the range of 3:30. After committing to a year long program with me all runners comfortably broke the 3 hours barrier at DCM.
From there Team NOR Coaching has grown and expanded to Triathlon & Adventure Racing Coaching services.
My coaching philosophy is based on a scientific method mixed with psychological & cognitive training to get the most out of yourself on race day.
Helping & advising athletes on balancing their training, racing, work, family, lifestyle and rest aspects of their sporting career.