28 | Triathlon & Multi Sport Magazine www.triathlonmag.com.au 028-035_Emma Snowsill.indd 28 8/09/14 2:42 PM Feature Story | Emma Snowsill REFLECTIONS ON A CAREER HARD WON IT WAS A TUMULTUOUS ROAD TO THE TOP OF THE PODIUM FOR THE NOW-RETIRED EMMA SNOWSILL ,WHO OPENED UP RECENTLY TO TMSM ABOUT HER LIFE LESS ORDINARY. “LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A RALPH WALDO EMERSON. DESTINATION.” WORDS: SRR MEDIA | IMAGES: DELLY CARR www.triathlonmag.com.au Triathlon & Multi Sport Magazine | 29 028-035_Emma Snowsill.indd 29 8/09/14 2:42 PM EMMA’S TRIATHLON CAREER STARTED ALMOST BY ACCIDENT. IT WAS AN Above: the three ‘Emmas’; Jackson, INVITATION TO DO THE SWIM LEG FOR A TEAM AT THE NOOSA TRIATHLON IN 1996 Moffatt and Snowsill THAT WAS THE SPARK OF WHAT ESCALATED INTO AN AMAZING SPORTING CAREER. celebrate iewed through the filter of the sports media, Emma decided to go for it, he was my number-one supporter and Snowsill’s hugely successful career can be seen that has never changed.” as a montage of high-profile races at glamorous Emma’s triathlon career started almost by accident. It was an destinations around the globe. These include three ITU invitation to do the swim leg for a team at the Noosa Triathlon World Championships, an Olympic triathlon gold medal in 1996 that was the spark of what escalated into an amazing V(Australia’s first and only), a Commonwealth Games title, a sporting career. number of big-dollar Hy-Vee titles and a clutch of wins on the “A girl in my swim club asked me to swim for a friend’s team. ITU circuit. Running parallel to all this – and often obscured by Before that I was completely driven by my swimming and the confetti and camera flashes – is the amazing journey of a dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer, but racing in Noosa young girl from the Gold Coast. sort of threw a small spanner in the works.” The headlines always focused on the ‘Olympic and World Emma had a strong background in cross-country running Champion’, her happy smile and ruthless performances, but thanks to her school run coach Brian Chapman (Melissa when you tap into the private world of Emma Snowsill, you Hauschildt’s steeplechase coach), but she credits Jenny soon learn how much she valued her team, their dedication, Alcorn from Surfers Paradise Tri Club with bringing the three conviction and belief in her. sports together. “I have always needed that support. Obviously I have put in Her friend Luke McKenzie introduced Snowsill to coach Bill the physical work but there have been plenty of people putting Davoren and his squad in 1999 and she quickly broadened her me back together, keeping me in one piece and those helping circle of friends and learned more about the professional side with the business side of things,” she says. of her new sport. It was Mum and Dad – Maureen and Garry Snowsill – who But it was in 2000, while as an age grouper racing in gave Emma and sister Amy every opportunity as kids and Mooloolaba, that Emma met a very charismatic up and coming provided them with the environment in which to flourish. But professional triathlete, Luke Harrop, whose unrivalled passion while the girls were passionate and talented swimmers with for life was to have an enormous influence on Emma’s entire ambitions, sport as a career was never really part of the plan. life. It was also in Mooloolaba that year that Emma pocketed “Dad was always supportive of me doing everything, but in her first national age group title, qualifying her for the 2000 ITU his generation you went to school and went to university to World Championships in Perth, where she picked up the 16-to- get a degree and you got a job. But once I took the risk and 20 age group world title. 30 | Triathlon & Multi Sport Magazine www.triathlonmag.com.au 028-035_Emma Snowsill.indd 30 8/09/14 2:42 PM 028-035_Emma Snowsill.indd 31 8/09/14 2:42 PM ttracted to Luke’s personality, his attitude towards life, his devilish grin and a shared love of triathlon, Emma was “I WAS LIVING IN inspired and her world was quickly changing. A WORLD WHERE “Luke was very unique, as anyone would have said who TRIATHLON met him, and he had a love of life that stood out. He Awas like a sponge and he was super-passionate about wanting DIDN’T EXIST to see and enjoy the world and it just intrigued me. There was AND I DIDN’T a whole new world opening up, of travelling and doing what I loved, everything was coming at me fast. WANT TO SEE IT. “It was all very exciting, new and it felt like the world was IN ANY STAGE OF my oyster. Then all of a sudden if felt like that same world was ripped from under my feet,” she recalls. GRIEF YOU ARE On 12 January 2002, Luke Harrop was critically injured in a hit DEALING WITH, and run while on an early morning training ride. Two members of Col Stewart’s training squad were hit by a female driver of a PARTICULARLY stolen car in the Gold Coast suburb of Robina. Harrop sustained AT SUCH A massive head injuries and was rushed to Gold Coast Hospital and was put on a life support system but died the next day. YOUNG AGE, YOU The loss of Luke in such tragic circumstances left Emma REALLY WANT devastated, lost and questioning everything about life. TO DISTANCE “There were so many aspects that were so hard to deal with. Especially the fact that a life wasn’t lived, the nature of the YOURSELF FROM accident, how it occurred and the freakiness of it, I guess. There WHAT HURTS AND were so many question marks for me and there was a lot of hard processing and things to come to terms with,” she remembers. AT THAT STAGE IT Emma’s initial response was a reaction against triathlon and WAS OBVIOUSLY she even recalled thinking the sport should be ‘blacklisted’. “I was living in a world where triathlon didn’t exist and I TRIATHLON.” didn’t want to see it. In any stage of grief you are dealing with, particularly at such a young age, you really want to distance yourself from what hurts and at that stage it was obviously triathlon.” But Emma wasn’t alone, she was sharing her grief with the Harrop family and especially Luke’s twin Loretta. “Loretta was the only person who was instrumental in getting me back into the sport and she took me under her wing. If I look at it now, I was just the girlfriend of her brother. We had met a few times and I had spent time around the family and I obviously knew what she did and her status in the sport, but we didn’t know each other well. It was quite remarkable the strength she had to take me on the way she did.” Emma recalls Loretta encouraging her to look at what Luke was about and his life. “She said we had to move forward in life and there really is no other option. Every day the sun was going to rise and set and it was our choice what we do with it. “Rather than focusing on the negative about what had occurred, how would Luke see our lives? Would he be happy to see us throw away the sport that he loved so much? Would he be happy for us to live a life in mourning about him. “It was all about what we could learn from him, his personality and his view on life. It wasn’t an instant thing, it took a long time to turn around and come to terms with. “I was learning a heck of a lot and at a pretty young age and I honestly, truly didn’t realise how much I had learned until later on in my career. It was then that I was able to draw on that strength and mental capacity,” she says. Emma’s triathlon career had literally stalled because she was “really spooked to ride on the road” and living on the Gold 32 | Triathlon & Multi Sport Magazine www.triathlonmag.com.au 028-035_Emma Snowsill.indd 32 8/09/14 2:42 PM you put in is what you get out. He was by no means scientific – but neither was I – so that didn’t bother me at all. I was at a point where I just wanted to put my head down and work hard and not think a whole lot about it, other than learn about what we were doing and understanding the sessions.” Emma recalls that when Sutton was at the important sessions, it was mental training as much as it was physical training. “That is where I really learned that stuff about mind over matter. That was absolutely instrumental to me.” While Loretta and Emma benefited so much from their time together with Sutton, the ‘Doc’ also recalls it being an inspiring time for him. “It was a life experience for me, to watch Loretta Harrop mentor Emma,” he says. “I remember advising Loretta that one day the student will defeat the teacher. Her answer and her actions will go down in my memory as one of the greatest acts of selflessness I’ve ever witnessed. Make no mistake, Luke Harrop was Emma’s inspiration just as Loretta was the boot in the arse Emma needed on many occasions to make the best out of her unbelievable natural gifts.