Vincentia triathlete, Mandy Meredith, has claimed two World Championships at the World Triathlon Championships in Wollongong.
The veteran triathlete, who trains with Jervis Bay Triathlon Club, took out the Aquabike Championship in her age group on Thursday then followed up with a win in the mixed relay on Sunday.
“I have been competing in triathlons for over 20 years but this is my first time to make the podium at a World Championship,” she said. “One win was fantastic but two is just amazing. I still can’t quite believe it.”
Meredith set a cracking pace in the 40km bike leg of the Aquabike (a 1.5km swim and 40km bike) to finish more than a minute in front of her nearest competitor after the American had led out of the swim leg.
“The bike has always been my strongest leg,” she says. “I passed an American woman with about 7kms to go and really pushed hard to stay ahead of her. She ended up coming second so passing her was definitely a good thing!”
In the mixed relay, Meredith joined two males and one female to complete a shortened swim/bike/run where her team beat their Canadian second runners by an even bigger margin.
“That was fun,” she says. “As the third athlete to race I just had to push myself so that our final athlete was in a good position. It was great representing Australia with some of my fellow team members.”
Jervis Bay’s Rod Rose represented Australia II in the mixed relay in the same category and won bronze.
“Having two local triathletes on the podium really capped off the weekend,” Meredith said.
Jervis Bay Triathlon Club president, Martin Bell, said club members put in great performances in every race where they were represented.
Sile Crowe, Elisha Bell, and Will Blessing all finished in the top 20 in their age groups in Friday’s hotly contested Sprint race while Tim O’Connell made the top 20 in the Aquabike.
Elisha Bell also competed in her age group in the Mixed Relay where her team finished seventh.
“The atmosphere in Wollongong was electric and it was so good to see our members wearing the green and gold and competing so well,” said Martin Bell. “We also fielded a team to run the bike aid station in the professional T100 races on the Saturday, so many of our members were involved in some capacity.
