Charlie off to world champs
Warragul local Charlie Stern will be swimming, cycling and running against some of the best in the world after recently qualifying for both the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand and the World Triathlon Multisport World Championship in Townsville later this year.
Charlie, 21, qualified for both events thanks to a strong result at the Geelong Ironman 70.3 last month in his age group.
"It's pretty cool. I'm very stoked about it, it's so good," he said.
"That's what the goal was going into the event so all my training was put into that hoping I would be able to pull something off."
It's certainly a full circle moment for Charlie - the Geelong event was the first competitive triathlon he ever entered, so it was only right that he qualified for the world championships at the same event .
Charlie originally began triathlon and half ironman events in 2022 after falling out of love with football, and quickly took a shine to the sport.
"I fell in love with it after that first race and I've been taking it pretty seriously since then," he said.
Training twice a day, Charlie estimated he puts in around 25 hours of work a week working on all three disciplines required.
He currently juggles his training with both his studies and work, but said he wouldn't have it any other way.
"It provides a lot of structure for my life but also it's such a positive community. You're always improving, you're always learning, there's always people you can train with," he said.
"The whole fitness community is awesome, filled with such great people."
It's been a lot of work and a lot of improvement in a very short time.
"That first one I did I did in four hours and 59 minutes and then on the weekend (in Geelong) I did it in four hours 10 minutes. In two years cutting off 50 minutes, it's not bad. I'm pretty happy with it," he said.
"It's weird, I am really proud of myself. I never really expected to get this far in it, but every event I do I get better at it and see myself getting quicker. I'm just stoked with how I'm progressing"
He won't be alone at the triathlon championships either, as fellow local Damien Smith also qualified for the event.
Charlie is now focusing on getting himself as fit as possible for the two events, with the triathlon championships taking place in August and the half ironman championships in December.
Eventually, though, he wants to become a full time professional racer.
"I want to break four hours eventually but becoming a professional is a main goal. That's what I want to do, I want to race professionally," he said.