Trio South Africa bound
Three Horsham women have won another opportunity to compete on the world stage after ‘unexpected’ results in this month’s Ironman 70.3 Geelong event.
Sally Pymer, Kelly Miller and Susie Ellis are off to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in September to compete in the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
Pymer said she and her fellow competitors were thrilled to qualify in Geelong.
“There was one spot for the world championships available in my age group, 45 to 49 years, two spots in Kelly’s age group, 35 to 39, and one in Susie’s, 50 to 54, so we were excited to all place and get to go,” she said.
“I came first, Kelly came second and Susie third – the first two people didn’t want to go.
“None of us expected to qualify, so to have the three of us from Horsham qualify when competing against people from all over the country is quite amazing.
“We are all very proud of our achievements and are still trying to comprehend what happened.”
Wimmera athletes Jon Dixon, Penny Penfold and Daniel Garner also competed in the Geelong event.
“Jon smashed his time, Penny did well and Dan did well competing in his first 70.3,” Pymer said.
She said she was lucky to make it to the starting line after battling injury in the lead-up to the Geelong course, on February 18. “I was at the physio the Thursday before, doing everything I could and every last-minute thing to try to get there,” she said.
Ellis was also recovering from injury.
“I thought I’d see how I’d go and ended up nearly catching second,” she said.
“The girl who came second was six seconds in front of me.
“I should have ramped it up. She always beats me. I’m coming back from bad hamstrings and I haven’t been able to train properly, so I’m surprised by how well I ran.”
Miller was hoping for a personal best but did not expect to place.
“I was this mad person in the recovery tent after the race. I said to Sally’s husband, ‘Can I just look up my time?’ because he had Sally’s time on his phone,” she said.
“I looked up mine and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I came second’.
“I didn’t expect to place, so I was over the moon.”
Miller and Pymer competed in their first Ironman 70.3 world championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2017, while Ellis has competed in world Ironman events in Last Vegas, Austria and Mooloolaba.
The 70.3 in the title refers to the number of miles for the competition.
The event includes a 1.9-kilometre swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run.
The world championship will attract about 6000 athletes from more than 100 global qualifying events in locations including Australia, China, Spain, South Africa and the Americas.
The women will race on September 1 and the men the following day.
Pymer said the trio would continue training in all three disciplines in the lead-up to the event.
She said the plan was to compete in Port Macquarie in May ahead of the international venture.
“We were just saying we wanted a break – we were ready for a rest – and then we qualified at Geelong,” she said.
“Now we’ll do Port Macquarie and then have a few weeks off and start training for South Africa.”