The Olympic 4x400m relay is one of the final disciplines of every Summer Olympic Games, it encapsulates team effort, precision, speed and stamina. Jamie Baulch made the 400m and 4x400m relay his specialism, medalling at major championships including 1999 World Indoor Championships, 1997 World Championships and the 1996 Summer Olympics and thus ran into the annals of sporting history in the UK.
Since 2012, Baulch has been sharing his wealth of experience at the BodyHoliday Luxury Wellness Resort on the idyllic shores of St Lucia’s north west coast. The resort is famed for its unique approach to health and fitness, being the very first overseas destination spa more than 30 years ago and continuing to lead in this field. With its range of treatments, therapies and activities, the 155-room resort offers guests everything from archery to scuba diving, spinning to pilates, Ayurvedic treatments to reiki and myriad programmes throughout the year including September Solos, Jive-June, WellFit Families (July-August), WellFit boot camps, October Yoga and Pre-Christmas Restorative Break.
It is no wonder that the resort is able to bring in athletes of global stature, such as Baulch, Colin Jackson, Kerri Ann Payne and several others to guide eager guests. Sports Tourism Media caught-up with Baulch to find out more about his involvement with BodyHoliday…
You and other Olympians have done several seasons at BodyHoliday, St. Lucia, what makes that particular resort so special?
It’s the only place in the world like it, I’ve been going there twice-a-year pretty much since 2012. Even though I have travelled the globe through my athletics, visiting many places and sporting venues, the BodyHoliday resort is a magical place. The resort’s strapline ‘Give us your body for a week and we’ll give you back your mind’ is a 100% correct! I believe it is one of the most ‘returned-to’ resorts in the world. I absolutely love it, not just for the resort itself, but the ambiance, the food, the staff. When you return and just drop your bags off at reception and go exploring, for sure you bump into someone you know, it’s just that type of place and hope to keep going back for many years.
The BodyHoliday resort was my initial reason for visiting St Lucia; I had been to a few other Caribbean Islands, but funnily enough when I was in my early teens I always dreamt of going to St. Lucia, as I remember seeing images of the Island’s verdant and forested mountains and the beaches, and I remember saying to myself as a kid, that I really wanted to go there and I enjoy recalling that specific memory each time I return.
What were your pre-conceptions of BodyHoliday and the resort?
To be honest, I had this vision in my mind that I would arrive and see David Hasselhoff running down the beach, meaning, I would find loads of sporty people with chiselled bodies with body guards’ etcetera. As soon as I arrived that myth was dismissed, within minutes, I went ‘wow’ this is magical and relaxed place, the one thing I love about the resort is, if you want to do sport all day you can; one could start with me on the beach at 7am and then move from class to class with breaks for some amazing cuisine or if you just want to chill-out on the beach with a glass of Sauvignon and do nothing, then that option is open to you too. The resort seems to have mastered that balance of tailoring everyone’s wishes and desires around their particular needs. There is no judgement of anyone there, which is the key point because there is a happy demographic of people of all ages and fitness levels.
The word ‘luxury’ means many things these days including finding ‘wellness’ for mind and body, for example detoxing away from the digital landscape and searching out health-related and zen-like relaxation, do you see this ‘need’ in the clients who come to join you?
Yes, what I find in visiting guests is that they are very busy people, in many cases business owners, leaders who live incredibly frenetic lives, but the resort strives to reset body and mind. Even last week, I had a massage called the ‘spice-combo’ and literally, I got up from the massage table feeling like I had melted into a zen-like state; what this professional masseuse had done was to release this ‘tension’ I had been holding, tension I was unaware I was holding, this was the amazing thing. Even though, in our daily lives we feel normal, it is not until you come away and have such a massage, you realise the stresses and strains one carries. I think a lot of the guests feel like that, we all live very busy lives and always on our phones and now ‘zoom’ and pushing for the next big thing or whatever it may be; so the BodyHoliday almost takes you back to a period before there was a reliance on the technology of today. I love the fact that in resort, there are no TVs inside your rooms, and only certain areas of the resort are allocated as WIFI zones, this is an incredibly powerful tool for relaxation.
As an athlete and Olympian what special ingredients do you add for guests partaking in your restorative programme?
Good question. What I love as a former Olympic 400m runner, is that I have a wealth of knowledge of what it takes and what it is to run extremely fast. In my former training group there was Colin Jackson, who comes to this resort too; Darren Campbell, Frankie Fredericks, Merlene Ottey some of the best-known athletes ever. So, I think what I bring here is a ‘unique insight’ plus an understanding of ‘how’ to run in the first place. I always say to people during my beach-based course is, nobody teaches us how to run, for example, when you are in school they just teach you to run from point A to B, but not ‘how’ to move between these points, so I teach my students/ guests how to run in the first place. I often have guests thanking me for these little nuggets of insight, which assists them to perform better on their return home.
The resort is very much about mind/ body balance, are you there specifically for improving the body or do you include elements for the mind?
Definitely both the physical and mental. As a former athlete at an elite level, 80% of it comes down to the mental aspect, because there are such fine margins between world-class athletes lining-up on the track. So, I use that experience and break-it-down for the clients at BodyHoliday. What I have learnt in my entrepreneurial life, is that trying to be the best in the world at athletics, and those trying to be the best in the world within business are pretty much the same; using the knowledge from my athletics career can definitely help the guests. I have had guests praising me for the transferable information, which they have gone on to use in their daily lives and careers. Also, BodyHoliday use ‘Olympic Medallists’ for their courses and classes, not just athletes who have competed in the Olympics, so guests are learning from people who have achieved at the very highest level of sport.
Do you build your programme around the environment and facilities within resort or do you create it before arrival?
Well you create and adapt, so I have put together some circuits, Hiit work-outs, but also running techniques and drills. It is a part of the session I really love because I can give the guests a real insight into what we did as Olympic athletes and a taster of what training is required to become an Olympian. If you could witness the improvement from my clients on Day 1 of the course to the final day, you would be amazed at their new ability in a short space of time. I get a buzz from seeing the guests having their ‘Eureka’ moment where things click into place. Personally, I am learning to improve my approach too, each time I deliver a course at BodyHoliday, so this is a reflection on how much I enjoy it. I also delivered a speech at the ‘Champion’s Dinner’ this year, which I was very pleased with, so there are many areas of growth year-on-year at the resort.
You and Colin Jackson must have formed a formidable team this winter, what was the division of labour like and will this duet or others be a formula for the future?
Colin used to be my coach, so it’s quite funny that 20-years on we are still working together, he is a great guy and we both bring different skill-sets to the beach and clients. You can see the guests smiling even before the session has started and in the knowledge they will be doing quite a hard workout session at 7am. Sharing the experience with people like Colin and Leon Taylor (Olympic Diver) is amazing and I do think we add massive value to the guest experience, because there cannot be many comparable places in the world where guests get coached by Olympic medallists, on the beach in St. Lucia. I feel very proud to be part of it.
What type of clients have joined your courses, is it very diverse?
It is really diverse, it can be people who have retired through to extremely high-end business owners. But once they are in resort there is certain anonymity and equality, in that everyone wants the same thing, which is essentially is to improve their quality of life and to have a great time. Another example, in one of my groups I had a teenager and a women of 82, both going through their paces and let me tell you the 82-year old was smashing it! The beauty of the resort is that there is no judgement, it does not matter what your background is or your reason for being there; we are all the same when we hit that beach at 7am.
On your days off, how do you enjoy the wellness resort, maybe your favourite treatment and the island of St Lucia in general?
On the weekends when I have time to chill-out, I really do get to relax and really take-in the weather and resort facilities and kind of act like one of the guests. I like to do the odd stretch class, go to the gym but overall I use the period to completely relax away from my own busy life. I occasionally venture out of resort, but not that much because the resort has everything, however, I do love to go on walks with my partner, outside of the resort or visit ‘Pigeon Island National Park’. Like my clients, when you are travelling home on that plane, you want to feel the resort has made a difference to your body and mind, and always I look forward to going back.
Do you think the pandemic will drive more people to search out wellness retreats such as BodyHoliday ahead of more traditional beach holidays?
I think so, having spoken with the owners of the resort, they have been running this for so many years that they are ahead of the curve in many ways and well placed to cater for this new demand. Withstanding any bias, I truly believe this is one of the best holidays you can do on the planet, for many reasons not just the myriad classes, but the location, the food, the environment, the people it’s amazing. That’s why it has such high guest loyalty, because they visit once and fall in love with the resort.
For more information see BodyHoliday and the St Lucia Tourism Authority