In the the hills outside Murrumbateman, sheep and wine country in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, lives triathlete, coach and mother, Sarah Watson, with her family, ducks, frogs and a very large Dogue de Bordeaux, Kevin.
Australian Rural & Regional News was in the district and able to find out first hand from Sarah what it was like to compete at international level in the 2023 World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships Hamburg and learn how she made it to this standard, and with a smile too.
Sarah came in first in the cycle leg and fifth overall in her age group (45-49) in the world class international field at Hamburg.
ARR.News: Have you always been sporty?
Sarah Watson: I grew up in Yass in the 1980/90s, so as a kid in there was not much else to do except hang at the pool all summer and be schooled by Leanne Goode in the art of swimming (who is still teaching kids to swim to this day along with her son). Each day I walked to the pool straight from Mt Carmel school for swim squad training five days a week. When I was finally tall enough, I used to ride mum’s old rusty 3 speed bike with the basket on handlebars to Hatton’s corner after school or on weekend, and Little Athletics at Walker Park was a big part of my learning to run. So it’s safe to say sport was a big part of my childhood in Yass.
ARR.News: What got you interested in triathlons? Did your Army training help?
Sarah Watson: I became interested in triathlons after I competed at the 2017 Toronto Invictus Games in swimming, cycling, and running events. After being medically discharged from the Australian Army after suffering from PTSD and depression related to operational service in Iraq, fitness and sport became a means to rediscover purpose and social connection with others after being in a particularly dark place for some years post discharge.
ARR.News: How long have you lived in Murrumbateman?
Sarah Watson: My parents moved from Sydney to Yass in 1981 (I was 3) and then in 1991, we moved out to the bush outside Murrumbateman so mum had space for her beloved horses. I grew up here until I joined the Army straight out of Year 12, just after turning 18. I spent the following 19 years posting around Australia and overseas. I have settled back here to raise my boys and belong to an incredible community.
ARR.News: How do you train for a triathlon from Murrumbateman? What’s your routine? Do the neighbours see you tearing up and down those hills every day?
Sarah Watson: Training for triathlons in Murrumbateman is not exactly as easy as one would find it to be in Noosa or the Gold Coast. It involves travelling to Yass in summer to swim early in the morning or weekends and in winter over to an indoor Canberra pool a couple of times a week. Cycling requires throwing the bike in the car to get past the dirt road and either spinning around the Yass Valley or over to the incredible Stromlo Forest Park criterium track or otherwise much time spent on the indoor bike trainer using a program called Zwift. Running around the hills where I live definitely has made a difference – it is hills in every direction I can go so when it comes to race day flat running off the bike, it feels easier!
ARR.News: How do you fit training in with work, life, family and fun? What do tell yourself when you just don’t feel like it and would rather stay by the fire?
Sarah Watson: For me, training has become my me time and almost my meditation and medication. For sure there are times when it’s minus 3 outside and I have a brick session to get done (brick= bike ride into run off the bike), but I know that I have never once regretted a workout and I always feel much better once it’s done. Of course, come race day, that makes it all worth the numb toes, fingers and nose in training.
ARR.News: Why did you choose the Hamburg triathlon? Was this your first OS event?
Sarah Watson: I was fortunate to qualify for this Hamburg World Championship event at some local races late last year and early this year. I was not in a financial position to fund this trip to race in Germany so I sought sponsorship from local businesses.
I had a few rejections at first but then I was contacted by an IT company called xApmlify based in Canberra. As it turned out, the CEO of xAmplify, Wayne Gowland, is Yass Valley born and bred so there was an instant connection! Wayne proposed a solution that not only would help me with the trip to Germany to race but an offer to build up my own business skills through providing mindset, health and fitness coaching to the xAmplify staff. It seemed too good to be true. But this reality was unfolding and within weeks, I was on an incredible journey of not only training for this race but also growing my skills in the field of work I am incredibly passionate about – coaching others to better health outcomes.
I have loved every minute working with xAmplify. I have had the privilege of coaching individuals to achieve their personal goals (Wayne himself racing and winning his first Duathlon event) and bringing the G2G Mindset and xAmplify families together for wellbeing activities. This has been one of the most professionally and personally rewarding experiences of my life. It has grown my skills and confidence as a Coach and reinforced my desire to help others to best their best physically, emotionally and mentally.
I’ve also learned it’s absolutely worth the risk of rejection or feelings of imposter syndrome – it may not always lead a place “in the arena”, but when it does it’s an incredible feeling.
Thank you Wayne and xAmplify for taking a chance on me and giving me this incredible opportunity.
ARR.News: How did you find competing in Germany? Did you have to do special preparation for it?
Sarah Watson: I loved competing in Germany. It was a great course in a beautiful city alongside the best age group triathletes from around the world. I have my own coach who specialises in coaching time starved athletes and I credit a lot of my success in this sport to him (he is an ex professional triathlete and runner).
ARR.News: You looked pretty happy coming out of the swim leg but say the next legs were more challenging. What happened and how did you keep yourself together to come through with such a good result?
Sarah Watson: It was a pretty tough swim in water not unlike Lake Burley Griffin but even darker. (Read Sarah’s account of the whole race below.)
ARR.News: Do you have other events in your sights now?
Sarah Watson: Yes, I have recently qualified for the Multi Sport World Championships in the Standard distance duathlon (5km run, 40km bike, 10km run) which is in Townsville in September. I’ll do some local racing between now and then just to keep the fitness on track.
ARR.News: What would you advise someone wondering if they’d be up to competing in triathlons?
Sarah Watson: I would strongly encourage anyone if of any age to give tri a try! The three activities of swimming, riding a bike and running are things many of us did as kids for fun. It sounds like a hard thing to put the three activities together but it also is fun and brings a huge sense of accomplishment. The triathlon community is extremely friendly and I regularly see men and women in their 60-80s at triathlon events around Australia. It is a sport for all ages and abilities.
We at Yass Valley Triathlon Club ran a Finish Lines not Finish Times mini triathlon for women for after a grant was awarded by NSW Govt. We had 44 women, from teens to grandmothers, who had never done a triathlon before and had a go in a safe and supported environment. The swim was in Yass Olympic pool, with a ride out past the train station and back to the pool with a short run/walk around the ovals behind Yass pool. Everyone finished and the smiles of all those who participated were priceless.
There will be more beginner events planned like this one by local triathlon clubs around NSW in summer so keep an eye out!
Sarah tells her story of the 2023 World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships Hamburg
The Swim was in the Inner Alster river in the centre of Hamburg. There were 72 women in my age category. We were marshalled into the water to a deep water start line about 20m away from the water’s edge where we had to tread water for around 3-4mins. It was probably one of the most challenging parts of the racing experience with so much nervous energy crammed between two buoys – I copped a few solid kicks in that 3mins alone and had a nice bruise to show for it after the race.
Finally, the horn for the start of the race sounded and being stuck in the centre of the group I copped many more feet and fists to various parts of my body in the first few minutes of the swim. I went out as hard as my arms would rotate to try and get away and soon enough the group spread out and I found some rhythm heading towards the first buoy. The water was very dark brown, almost black, so zero visibility when the head was down.
Heading around the second buoy, the group had really spread out now and I could see a number of blue caps of my category pulling away in front. I kept up a fast stroke rate but conscious too of not getting to the end of the swim with exploding lungs.
At the 500m mark, safety kayaks channelled the swimmers through a tunnel under the bridge. Within a few metres of entering the tunnel, things went completely dark, and I could feel my anxiety levels rise as I hoped that I was swimming straight. This darkness only lasted a couple of minutes and fortunately I didn’t swim into the wall like some of my fellow competitors reported doing.
Once through the tunnel, instant relief with now being able to see and hear the crowds around the swim exit area. I shifted up a gear with a faster and stronger kick cadence and visualised what was going to happen next in Transition 1.
The swim exit to where my bike was racked was around 500m which is quite a long way to run barefoot in a body-hugging wetsuit! I managed to push the pace to my bike however the legs were burning after 200m and trying to wrestle off a wetsuit whilst along the way is no walk in the park, but this is the Sprint distance race and every second counts.
It is worth mentioning here that I had borrowed this wetsuit off another Aussie woman, Tanya, who had to pull out of the race a few days before with an injury. Tanya generously offered me her wetsuit to wear as I arrived in Hamburg without one. I have always been in two minds about swimming in wetsuits. The one I own is OK but mid-level quality in terms of swimming wetsuits. After having a shoulder reconstruction due to Army injuries, my left shoulder has a limited range of movement and my middle of the range wetsuit really doesn’t help with the rotation of my left arm. This wetsuit I had borrowed however was a high end, high technologically constructed Orca Alpha wetsuit specifically designed for triathletes. This piece of kit felt amazing to swim in and I estimate that it saved me at least a minute or more so for that I was extremely grateful!
I located my bike, dumped the wetsuit and goggles in the box, fastened helmet, donned my shoes without socks (saving at least 10secs) and sprinted with my bike another 300m or so to the Bike mount line (another very long run in T1 – normally less than 100m in this distance race).
I could see fellow Aussie teammate from my category, Alison Ryan, around 200m ahead of me running through T1 with the bike. With this being a draft legal race, I knew I had to try and work with others on the bike to be competitive. As soon as soon as I got on the bike, my mission was to try and reel in Alison so that we could work together on the bike and chase down the leaders in our category. I pushed as hard as the legs would go on the first couple of kilometres, taking in some sips of water and eating an energy gel, riding solo at this point and burning some matches doing so.
Eventually I got closer to Alison who had already an American, Brit, Kiwi and Canadian in her slipstream. I felt so pumped to have closed the gap and accelerated to jump on the back of this group (all my category I could see from the leg tattoos on display) feeling a sense of relief that I wasn’t going to have complete this bike leg solo.
Drafting is a massive benefit for energy saving and speed. Before long, the American took the lead yelling out in true American style “C’mon ladies, let’s rock this bike leg”. I accelerated and jumped onto the American’s wheel responding with “no worries mate, let’s go”. The other women pushed to hold on to the wheel and before long we were taking it in turns at the front of the pack (all except the Canadian woman who turned out to be a very good runner and was obviously saving her legs for the run).
On reflection, and seeing the photos of the race, Alison and I spent most of the time leading the front of our small peloton which displayed the strong team spirit of the girls in green and gold.
The ride weaved around the old and newer parts of Hamburg, over bridges and through a couple of tunnels again. There was one crash I learned of in the women’s race in the tunnel – an Australian woman in her 60s who ended up needing a plate in her shoulder from the injury. Another Australian woman stopped her race when she saw the crash occur and waited with the injured triathlete until the Ambulance arrived then continued her race (another strong display of the Aussie team spirit).
The ride took me 32mins to complete the 20kms and it felt pretty good – finishing in the quickest time for my category on the oldest bike in the field. Transition from bike to run was another long one and I didn’t do the best here running past my bike rack spot a few metres then dropping my hat whilst trying to put it on the run. Nonetheless, I exited the run around the same time as the women I had cycled in with.
The Canadian who took a nice rest at the back of the peloton took her fresh running legs straight past me in the first 500m of the run. I tried to keep her in my sights which I did and focused on for the first 2.5km. The run was along the lake path then through a tunnel under the far bridge out to the picturesque park to the turn around point. It was nice and flat but now congested with runners. I didn’t want to lose sight of the Canadian so pushed the cadence up to try close the gap with her.
Then I saw the American women in my category just ahead pull up with a cramp. She yelled out in pain and I asked if she was ok; she winced and nodded and said keep going. Looking over my shoulder 200m on, my exuberant American friend had started running again which was good to see.
The Canadian had also started to slow the pace slightly so I closed the gap and ran right behind her until the final 500m where I ran past her. She ran past me with about 200m to go to the finish line so I sprinted the last 150m and just beat her across the line.
I looked at my watch and saw I had run the 5km in the fastest I had managed ever in a triathlon event finishing in 5th place and only 50secs from a podium finish. I was really pleased with this result with it being my first big race at the Sprint distance event.
Only upon looking back at the results and picturing moments out on the race comes the realisation how close this racing really is at the top end of the field, but it is hard to know where you stand overall in your category when out racing along with all women age groups. The celebration at the finish line for all who crossed it was just brilliant and I felt super proud to have raced the best I could have with some lessons learned and new friends made along the way.
