Battling heat exhaustion, Mt Victoria personal trainer Tony Williams was eighth at the Australian Cross Triathlon Age Championships on February 11.
While disappointed he couldn’t back up his second-place finish at the 2016 event, he still has a good shot at making the Australian team to compete in the world cross triathlon championships in Canada in August.
Competing in the 50-54 years age category, the 51-year-old finished the 1.5km swim, 30km mountain bike ride and 10km trail run on the Sunshine Coast in 3 hours 2 minutes.
In hot conditions and feeling under the weather with the flu, Williams said he made some “rookie errors” which cost him time and saw him collapse from heat exhaustion as he crossed the finish line.
“My hydration became so hot it was undrinkable and boiling hot,” he said.
“I usually race with socks on to keep the mud out but I decided to skip the socks – a bad idea. I ended up with huge blisters.
"On the plus side I ran the second fastest time in the age group [in the trail run leg] and this is encouraging after ankle surgery 10 weeks ago,” Williams said.
He’s hoping he has attained enough points from this event to make the Australian team competing in the cross triathlon world championships in Canada in August.
The final qualifying event will be held in Tasmania in late March, the same weekend Williams will be competing in the 42km Buffalo Sky Marathon in Victoria, so he has a little while to wait to find out if he’s made the team.