Gemma grew up on a sheep farm in Southland, studied at Otago University and not long after graduating stumbled into event management through being involved with the inaugural Motatapu event -  thrown in the deep end in with event management and loved it! Gemma spent 10 years working at Motatapu in various capacities wit her last few years as race director. 

Gemma was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on other events during her time at Motatapu and completed an internship with the Triathlon team at the London 2012 Olympics.

Gemma has also worked on numerous other events over the years including; Challenge Wanaka, Queenstown Winter Festival, Jennian Homes Mothers Day Fun Runs, NZ Rural Games and Queenstown Marathon.  

She now spends her time split between working on the Winter Games NZ as Venue & Operations Manager and her role at Coast to Coast.

She loves working behind the scenes and watching people take on the challenge of events and accomplishing their goals.  Gemma enjoys being part of the team at Coast to Coast and working on NZ’s longest running and most iconic multisport events.