Horsham's Kelly Miller has achieved a long-held dream of qualifying for the World Ironman Championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Miller earned her place with a personal best time at an ironman triathlon in Port Macquarie at the weekend. She completed the endurance event in 10 hours and 11 minutes to finish first out of 38 competitors in her age group.
Overall, Miller finished sixth out of 216 women of all ages, finishing ahead of two professional athletes.
Miller said she was ecstatic with her performance.
"I was really excited with the result, it was a massive personal best for me," she said. "There were eight professionals in the field and overall I was the sixth placed woman, so I beat two of them.
"I never, ever thought that would happen."
Two other endurance athletes from Horsham also competed at Port Macquarie. Sally Pymer completed her sixth ironman and finished 14th for her age group, while Penny Penfold completed her fourth half ironman and finished in 19th.
Only one person from Miller's age group of 40-44 could qualify for the 2019 World Championships.
Miller blew away the competition to finish in first place, 15 minutes ahead of the next best opponent.
Miller said everything came together perfectly.
"I just had the perfect race," she said. "I was a couple of minutes quicker in my swim, quicker in the bike and quicker in the run.
"In 2017 I came third in my age here, last year I came in second, and this year I came in first. It was just awesome."
Miller said qualifying for the World Championships was a special achievement.
That's been a big dream of mine for a long time.
- Kelly Miller
"That's been a big dream of mine for a long time," Miller said. "I have just been absolutely buzzing with adrenaline since the race.
"People keep saying to me, 'You must have slept well the night of the race," but honestly I don't think I even had an hour."
The World Championships will be held in Hawaii in October, but before then Miller will also compete at the half-ironman World Championships in France in September.
Miller thanked her training partners, her coach Darren, her family, and especially her mother for their support.
"I've had a coach for three years and that's really helped me to get to where I am. Each year I've just been improving," she said.
"Mum has been awesome looking after the kids for me too ... I'm just overwhelmed with all the support I've got."