The Lydiard Foundation was made possible by generous support of the late Brian Maxwell. Foundation's co-founder, Nobby Hashizume, met with Brian only a few months before Brian's tragic passing. Brian, better known as the co-founder of PowerBar, was all supportive of the idea of keeping the legacy of the Kiwi coaching legend. "My high school coach was a distance runner in a shot-putter's body," Brian said. "But he taught me about the Lydiard training principles." Brian went on to finish 3rd at the Boston Marathon and was ranked No. 3 in the world in the marathon by Track & Field News in 1977. Brian made the Canadian Olympic team in 1980 but was denied the opportunity to participate due to the boycott. He a won total of 14 marathons with the PR of 2:14:43.

Brian was all supportive of the idea of "honest hard work ethic" of the Lydiardism. Although never formally introduced to Lydiard, Brian applied the same honest hard work ethic to become an internationally ranked marathon runner. He was also a close personal friend of Lasse Viren of Finland, who won four Olympic gold medals with the influence of the Lydiardism. Brian also liked our proposal of educational program for coaches and athletes. He was a strong proponent of anti-drug developmental programs.

As a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and later their head cross country coach and assistant track & field coach, Brian and his wife, Jennifer, also a former runner at UC Berkeley and a nutritionist who formulated PowerBar, were always generous with sharing their fortune that they have earned with PowerBar to the running community and beyond. In 2002, the couple underwrote the cost of replacing the artificial turf of UC Berkeley's multi-purpose facility. It is now appropriately called the Maxwell Field. Brian and Jennifer have also supported local companies; GameReady and Kinesys. "We know exactly how it feels to be a start-up company," Brian said to Nobby upon their initial meeting. "It's good to be able to help out others in the same situation now." Brian specifically asked, with their financial support, to acknowledge these companies. Brian also served as GameReady's CEO.

Late last year, Foundation's co-founders, Nobby and Lorraine Moller, visited Jennifer Maxwell with the revised proposal of the Lydiard Foundation. Jennifer graciously accepted the proposal by saying, "I still feel like I make decisions with Brian. I would like to continue supporting something he would have supported."

As a start-up infancy stage of the Lydiard Foundation, we would not have been able to move forward and immediately start working on various programs without Brian and Jennifer's support and encouragement to keep Lydiard's legacy.

We would like to thank the Maxwell's for their support and encouragement. Thank you!