Welcome

The 2016 Triathlon season is underway and now so is my website! I’ll be posting reports from my races and updates from training, so if you feel like a quick read every now and then, accompanied by photos from my adventures around the world, keep an eye on my website.

So I’m not beginning at a random spot in my triathlon career, I’ll give you a brief summary of recent times that has led me to today. My first major triathlon competition was the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2012 where I placed first in the Individual and Teams Race. After wearing green and gold and representing Australia at that event, and coming home with two gold medals, I knew triathlon would be a part of me for a long time to come!

I competed in ITU Juniors from 16 until 19 years of age and during this time I made the Triathlon Australia Junior Worlds Team in 2013 and competed in the World Championships in London. I placed fourth there and following that competition I began training under coach Dan Atkins. I made the Junior Worlds team again the following year, but two weeks before I was due to fly out to Canada where the World Championships were being held, I broke my wrist in a cycling crash.

The following year I moved up the ranks into the Under 23s and competed in domestic and international races. As a Junior I was the Oceania and Australia Champion in my final years, and the want to have those titles didn’t slow down when I became an Under 23. I competed in races in New Zealand and Tasmania at the start of 2015. From these two races I became Under 23 Oceania Sprint distance Champion, and Under 23 and Elite Australian Olympic distance Champion. However when the time came for competing to make the Triathlon Australia Under 23 Worlds team later in the year, I was unable to due to an Achilles injury.

From May 2015 until the end of January 2016 I, along with coaches and physios and doctors and anyone’s advice I could get, were working together to pin point and over come my Achilles injury. To keep it short, I had doctor appointments, x-rays, MRI scans, ultrasounds, two cortisone injections and then surgery on September 1 2015. Surgery involved debridement of my Achilles tendon and removal of my plantaris tendon. Following surgery in September until January my rehabilitation and return to training begun, and it was up and down like a roller coaster. I would progress in training and take a couple of steps forward and then my Achilles would be unhappy again and I’d feel like I’m back to square one. I swear my Achilles is more temperamental than a hormonal woman.

In all seriousness, those eight months from May until January were the most difficult and challenging of my life. In saying that, it taught me so much and I now have a love for running of amounts that I can’t explain. As tough as injury is to go through, you learn to appreciate so many things you take for granted.

Now onto a happier note, since January I have competed in three races this year. The first was a local Queensland Triathlon series race in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. Following that I competed in the Wollongong OTU Oceania Continental Cup and then in Gisborne for the Olympic distance Oceania Championships. You can read more about these in my two race reports.

So about now feels like a good time to start my website, as I’ve put my injuries behind me and couldn’t be more excited for a much better and more racing filled 2016 season! Thank you to my family, friends, coach and sponsors for their constant support. And to you, who’s reading this, I hope you’re having a splendid day 😊