Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Lance graduated from high school in Nanaimo in 1986. He moved to Vancouver in the late 80s where, still a teenager, he began competing in the sport of triathlon with some success. Triathlon was still in its pioneer years and there were few coaches available. Lance identified an early need for creating a structured training environment and so began coaching during the late 80s.
Lance attended the University of British Columbia in the early 1990s and graduated with a degree in Human Kinetics, all the while being mentored as an Assistant Coach of Track and Cross Country at the University. This early high performance coaching experience helped Lance model a framework for coaching his own triathlon training team, which was having increasing success.
In the mid- to late-90s, Lance independently led his professional athletes on competition tours throughout Europe and Australia and started placing athletes on podiums internationally. Triathlon was included into the Olympic Program for the first time in 2000 so, early that year, Lance moved to Victoria to help found Canada’s National Triathlon Centre. There he was named the Centre’s Head Coach, and co-authored Triathlon's first ever Level IV Coaching Certification Diploma at the National Coaching Institute.
2000 was a milestone year for Lance as he coached Victoria’s Simon Whitfield to capture the first ever Olympic Gold Medal in triathlon. That same year, he coached three different athletes to Ironman victories, including Canadian triathlon legend Lisa Bentley, who went on to win an impressive 11 titles.
Continuing his legacy of excellence within the Victoria community, Lance has coached locally-based triathlete Brent McMahon for his entire career of more than 25 years – a career that includes medals at World Junior Championships, representing Canada at two Olympic Games (Athens 2004, London 2012) and winning four Ironman titles while setting record times. Lance also coached Victoria athlete Matt Sharpe to the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
Throughout his career, Lance has placed athletes on podiums at every major Triathlon World Championship including Ironman, Ironman 70.3, and World Triathlon Series (formerly ITU). As of 2022, he has coached Canadian athletes to five Olympic Games and over 50 World Championships.
Lance has coached Canadian National Teams to Gold medals at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games. He was Triathlon Canada’s “Coach of the Year” for five consecutive years and was inducted into the Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame in 2015. Lance is one of only four Ironman Master Coaches worldwide. Based in Victoria, he continues to coach world-class athletes while concurrently pursuing his career as a coaching educator through his personal business and as a co-creator of Ironman U, a global coaching education platform for Ironman.
