News
Real secret of All Blacks’ success is in the water!
A Galway-based sports performance guru can claim his share of the All Blacks’ spectacular Rugby World Cup success – and it was all in the water!
Because Pure Athlete – the company run by former Auckland Blues and Connacht Rugby performance coach Greg Muller and his wife Gena Brewerton – supplied his homeland with their recovery bath salts before and throughout the RWC.
Greg and Gina founded the company in 2010 – bringing together their combined love of sport, health and naturopathy led to them create a company with a very clear vision.
“We wanted to develop sports performance and recovery products that not only cleansed, helped to heal, repaired and rejuvenated the body but that they were also made from the highest ingredients,” he says.
“Being conscious that everything we put onto our skin is absorbed into the body we had a strong desire to formulate ingredients that would have both a positive effect on health and athletic performance,” he adds.
They started from their kitchen in Knocknacarra – but the vision was more important than the location.
“We were adamant that we would only use quality, natural, wild-crafted and organic ingredients wherever possible,” he says.
Greg has over 20 years’ experience in the health and fitness industry, working and studying around the world.
He has trained professional sports teams and soldiers – he used to work as a physical training instructor with New Zealand’s elite forces – as well as helping a great many people achieve their health and fitness goals.
And he reveals that his company ethos focuses around four key elements.
“Our four key elements are service, hones, positive and earth conscious and it is always out intention to apply these in everything we do.
“We believe that by staying true to our values, inspiring the passion and talent of our people, working in sustainable, innovative ways and doing our best to be service orientated, honest positive and earth conscious, we will keep on making the products our customers love, while at the same time have a positive impact on the world we live in every day,” he says.
Greg’s philosophy is to ‘combine the physical and mental aspect of sport’.
As a performance coach, he was responsible for getting athletes and soldiers into peak physical condition – but he began to realise that physical conditioning alone was not enough.
A myriad of factors are involved and balance is required between skill development, strength and conditioning, nutrition and recovery.
Pure Athlete takes wisdom from ancient cultures that understood the importance of recovery and healing. During the physically demanding days of the Roman Empire, bath houses were common and bathing was a daily activity in Roman culture.
So Greg and Gina have adopted the Roman approach and reimagined bath time as an essential part of recovery.
Taking a hot bath has many associated health benefits which include helping with blood circulation, reducing muscle tension, removing toxins, reducing stress, boosting the immune system, inducing and sleep and indeed allowing for better quality sleep.
The combination of Epsom salts and essential oils, expedites the body’s natural process to bring about faster healing and recovery.
Using only natural ingredients and with a blend of 15 essential oils, the company has concocted a winning formula – the very one which helped New Zealand’s superstars recover so successfully during the Rugby World Cup.
All Blacks Strength and Conditioning Performance Coach, Dr Nic Gill, came across the product by chance at an Ironman Competition in Australia.
“When the website went up, people in fitness and health immediately started showing interest,” says Greg.
But one man in Australia showed more interest than most, and had an expo table at that Ironman competition. And who should stop by this stall only Nic Gill – Doctor of Sports Science, Performance Coach….and, as it turns out, Ironman competitor.
The All Blacks coach bought some Pure Athlete products to try out for himself, and Greg followed this up with an email after hearing the prestigious sports coach had taken samples.
Dr. Nic, impressed by the products, extended that he was in the market for something of a similar nature for the rugby team.
“He said: ‘I’m looking for something like this for the All Blacks’ I said okay – let’s do it!” says Greg.
Nic Gill has worked with the New Zealand All Blacks for the past eight years, during which time they secured Rugby World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015.
The renowned All Blacks strength and conditioning coach was so impressed by ‘Pure Athlete’ products, he included a testimonial on his website.
“Body care is essential and yet is regularly just taken for granted for the simple reason that it is well… just too simple or obvious.
“Many, many years ago Hippocrates said “Health is our greatest Wealth” yet it is not until we are ill or have an injury that we fully appreciate the power or importance of such a statement and the wisdom it holds.
“This is a simple, affordable and relaxing way to take care of your body on a regular basis and its right in your home,” he wrote.
Greg recalls flying over to England during the Rugby World Cup, rushing from plane to taxi to hotel in order to replenish supplies for the rugby team who would go on to win the Rugby World Cup.
Only downside? He still didn’t get a match ticket – but he played his part in his native country’s success from the sidelines.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
