Staff Profiles
At Everest Sports we have a dedicated team, all of whom are end users of the products we distribute and who are equally passionate about participating in sporting events and personal adventures in Australia and around the globe.
Everest Sports started as a small business distributing outdoor media to retailers.
Today we are a fully Australian owned and operated wholesale distributor of specialist sporting products. This encompasses everything from media products to clothing, nutrition, top end running and cycling accessories and a comprehensive sportscare and injury range.
We take pride in sourcing products that are the best in their class.
The team at Everest Sports care about our customers like we do the brands we distribute.
Name: Andy Abbott
Position at EVEREST SPORTS: Office Manager
Started Working at EVEREST SPORTS: 2009
Best Thing About Working at EVEREST SPORTS: Always Interesting, Easygoing and Loads of Job Variety
Interests Outside Work: Paragliding, Making and Fixing all kinds of Stuff. If it’s got wheels I’ll have a go at it. My Family and my 4yo Daughter (the littlest mechanic). Custom steel retro bikes.
My Ride: Reynolds 531 Paconi Steel with Zeus Group Set. Hopefully a Mountain Bike soon.
Favourite Places to Ride: Cruising along the beach or through the parks away from traffic.
Short Paragraph About Yourself: After escaping school as soon as possible I wound up working for a clothing wholesaler in the warehouse. From there my active participation in rowing led me to cycling as a form of training. When my warehouse job finished I wound up working for my LBS. It was here that I was first exposed to all things Italian in the bike world. This was followed by fifteen years in the Professional Photographic Production world. A health scare inspired me to walk away from my job and pursue my interest in Paragliding and the Outdoors. After 14 years as a professional Paraglider pilot, I discovered I was to become a father. This led to my return to Melbourne and three years on the tools in various bike shops as a mechanic. A chance encounter with an old school friend led to my introduction to the Everest crew. I have been very pleased to have been allowed the opportunity to join the team and look forward to a long and interesting future with Everest.
Name: Marthijs Heuperman
Position at EVEREST SPORTS: National Sales
Started Working at EVEREST SPORTS: 2008
Best Thing About Working at EVEREST SPORTS: Great working environment and cool products. Never a dull moment.
Interests Outside Work: Have always been a big outdoor enthusiast. Started climbing, telemark skiing and bushwalking as a teenager. Main interest now is MTB riding and racing in enduro events with friends. 2 young kids have slowed me down a bit (-:
My Ride: Gary Fisher Sugar 4+ with many updated bits and pieces added over the years. Trek 7.5 FX Flat bar road bike for commuting to work and towing the kids around town with the trailer. Merida HFS 3000D MTB to upgrade from the GF and for more serious riding. Most recent purchase was a Trek Madone 4.5T for an introduction to the world of road riding.
Favourite Places to Ride: Anywhere with sweet singletrack or simply to the local park with the kids is fun too!
Short Paragraph About Yourself: After finishing a degree in Town Planning and Design I ended up in retail following my passion for the outdoors through selling ski and climbing gear. A stint in manufacturing and then printing and packaging sales saw me working as an account manager in the corporate world. With a growing family the decision to re-evaluate the work/life balance and be part of the exciting and ever changing cycling/outdoor industry I started at Everest Sports. Do what you like – like what you do!
Name: Simon Head
Position at EVEREST SPORTS: Director and founder of the company
Best Thing About Working at EVEREST SPORTS: Everest Sports is a fantastic place to work, we have a very relaxed but professional approach. Having the quality products that we distribute means we have great relationships with the majority of our customers. Being a mature business also means we can deal with those companies we want to deal with and who also follow similar ethical and environmental ideals.
I love giving employees the opportunities to do the things that are important to them. We are a small team of like minded people who share many common goals and this certainly makes integrating life style and work quite easy.
Interests Outside Work: Outside of work my family rules. I have three beautiful daughters who are all hard to keep up with. The move up to Bright was precipitated by the need to be closer to the Alpine environment. Skiing, cycling, walking the mountains and the rivers, what a fantastic place to live, work and play.
My Ride: My ride is a ten year old Bianchi for the bitumen and a brand new Giant Anthem for the single track which starts 50m from my front gate.
Favourite Places to Ride: The best place to ride is either two metres behind or right beside my beautiful wife Lisa, who is the CFO for the company.
Short Paragraph About Yourself: Thirty years ago, as a 18 year old I walked the Alpine Walking Track by myself in the middle of Winter. This experience led me into the world of outdoors where I have been ever since. I have spent 15 years in specialist outdoor retailing, importing, distribution and manufacturing. I built what was one of the largest and certainly most loved indoor climbing gyms in Australia, called THE MILL. I have spent well over a thousand nights out in the mountains, either climbing, skiing or walking.
I am looking forward to making a difference with bringing bikeTREES and adventureTREES to the world.
Name: Lisa Flew
Position at EVEREST SPORTS: Accounts Manager
Started Working at EVEREST SPORTS: 2005
Best Thing About Working at EVEREST SPORTS: Great working environment, great people who love what they do, always something new to challenge us, we are based out of Bright.
Interests Outside Work: Mountain Biking, road riding, tele skiing, camping and bushwalking, pottering in the garden, especially the veggie patch, my kids, Sophie (4) and Zoe (2), quilting and sewing
My Ride: A Kona mountain bike – don't know anything about it except it is red and it does what its meant to do. A sexy new roadie – a Wilier – it's white and it goes fast. :-) A Gazelle town bike with a kids seat on the back in which Zoe sits and says "faster mummy, faster".
Favourite Places to Ride: Starting to discover all the great riding around Bright since moving up here, what an awesome place to ride a bike !!!! Slowly starting to get some hill climbing legs.
Short Paragraph About Yourself: After finishing a Commerce / Arts degree at Melbourne Uni, I worked as an accountant and as a stockbroker for some time while pursuing my passion for the outdoors and cycling in my spare time. After many cool trips including cycle touring around Italy for 5 weeks, walking through Tassie and around Victoria, cycling around New Zealand, rock climbing in Thailand, skiing in Japan, walking in Yosemite, climbing in WA, my husband, Simon and I, settled down and we now have 2 daughters, Sophie (4) and Zoe (2), and we are based in beautiful Bright. We started Everest Sports back in 2005 and have since built up the business to include some fantastic products and we have a great team around us keeping the business running efficiently and effectively. We love what we do.
Name: Leigh Kilpatrick
Position at EVEREST SPORTS: National Sales
Started Working at EVEREST SPORTS: 7 Years ago after 13 years in bicycle retail.
Best Thing About Working at EVEREST SPORTS: Able to ride my bike as part of the job and working in an industry I love.
Interests Outside Work: Riding with friends and good coffee! Endurance Cycling, Cycle Tour Guide in Europe, Pony Club Instructor, Outback Camping.
My Ride: Wherever I have to go on a dry day, within a 60 km radius of home.
Bikes: Trek 980 MTB for city riding, Guru Ti, Specialized S-Works Roubaix both with Campag for Oz and a Cannondale Synapse with Shimano in Europe. Also own an "Audax" custom built with Campag and a Tandem, but always seem to "need" something else, though haven't seen the single speed light yet!
Favourite Places to Ride: Bright and surrounds, Dolomites, Pyrenees, Alps.
Favourite mountain to ride anywhere in the world: Mt Buffalo
Prettiest ride I have done in Australia: 250 km Bright, Hotham, Omeo, Falls Creek, Mt Beauty, Bright.
Best Day on a Bike: Sella Ronda in the Dolomites, 60 km over 4 passes in excess of 2000m, on a sunny day with heaps of snow on the ground.
Short Paragraph About Yourself: Broken down runner who took up cycling to cover ground under own power in comfort. Got hooked on the cafe culture, now a total cycling tragic!
