Coach Greg Patterson was born and raised in South Africa and immigrated to the U.S. in December 1999. He has been married for 26 years and he has lived together with his wife and their 4 children in Cumming for the past 17 years. He is a certified soccer and running coach, as well as a Certified Sports Administrator. He has coached his own children, who are all successful runners. His oldest son, Matt, ran on the South Forsyth Varsity team all four years and was team captain in his Junior and Senior years. He went on to compete at Georgia college. His middle son, Josh, ran on the varsity team all four years and was also Captain on the South Forsyth XC team. Coach Greg's twins, Mikey and Caroline, are both college Sophomores and they also compete at the college level. Mikey runs at Mercer University, and Caroline runs at UNG. Coach Greg's passion may have begun with coaching his own children, but today he continues his love for the sport through coaching the kids at GRK.
Coach Greg has a passion for the sport of running and he has run many marathons including the Comrades 56 mile Marathon. He is currently involved in coaching children in both group and private settings. Among his achievements are several Forsyth County titles; 1600m and 800m championship win in 2013 (boys), 2014 (girls), 2015 (girls), 2017 (girls). In 2020, the boys' cross country team won the State Championship and the girls were the Runners-up. Most recently, in Fall 2021, the boys and girls teams both won the coveted State Championship titles. Several of his athletes have progressed to the Sectional and State level in their early high school running careers. In 2020, we had several Great Strides alumni on the podium at the GHSA State XC meet - with one of our own athletes winning the State Championship title!
While Coach Greg still enjoys competing in local races, his focus has shifted to ensuring the success of the children he coaches. He feels no greater sense of accomplishment than when he sees the children he coaches achieving their potential and the confidence that they gain from reaching their goals!