Hellemans (55) has coached six world champions and four Olympians and is one of the most successful coaches in the history of New Zealand sport.
"I am retiring from all triathlon coaching ," he told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"I have had 25 years' front-line coaching and it is time to step back."
The decision to return to Christchurch came about because his wife, Ien, has ended her contract as a lecturer in sports nutrition at the University of Otago.
"We have kept our home in Christchurch," Hellemans said.
"But I will still travel regularly to Dunedin."
He will still do distance teaching as a lecturer in sports medicine at Otago University.
Hellemans intends to return to the Active Health clinic at Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch and will remain a coaching adviser with Triathlon New Zealand.
He will help the organisation reshape its high performance programme before the London Olympics in 2012.
"We have got to keep up with the changes that are happening internationally in the sport," he said.
Triathlon NZ will be taking its funding programme to Sparc before the end of the year.
Hellemans is one of New Zealand's foremost triathlon coaches.
He has not only been behind the successes of New Zealand's great endurance athletes in his long coaching career, but has also been a service provider.
His coaching career started when he guided Erin Baker to nine world triathlon titles in the 1980s.
"We experimented with different training models and developed a structured programme that gave us the edge over other competitors and kept us ahead of the game," he said.
He also experimented with altitude training at the Snow Farm at Wanaka and adapted intermittent hypoxic training methods to New Zealand athletes.
The Snow Farm regularly hosts a triathlon training group directed by Hellemans during the summer months.
Hellemans has been involved in a sport that has risen remarkably in profile and seen considerable change over the past two decades, including increasing professionalism in coaching.
"I've seen many young New Zealanders work their way up the high performance ladder," he said.
"I know there is more to their success than talent. It takes years of training, and considerable support, but it's also the sheer bloodymindedness that takes good athletes to star performers."
Hellemans represented New Zealand in the triathlon in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, and has won six New Zealand open titles.
He has also won the world masters title for the standard distance seven times.
