Peta Cutler’s aim was just to complete the Port Macquarie Ironman on Sunday, but she powered home in the gruelling event and clocked a very commendable time.

In her first start over the Ironman distance, Cutler, 30, completed the 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run in a time of 11 hours, 47 minutes and 50 seconds.

That made the Bathurst triathlete 65th of the 237 women to cross the line. 

Cutler was busy soaking up the atmosphere from the Port Macquarie crowd and attributed her ability to enjoy the race, as opposed to suffer through it, to her coaching.

“I had a ball. I enjoyed every minute of it. The last 10km of the run I really had to dig deep, but I had the best day possible. It just felt fantastic to be able to be up there and compete,” she said.

“My coach Grant Giles is really big on the mental preparation. For me, I felt comfortable all day.  He was great at making sure I didn’t get ahead of myself and not thinking too far ahead of time.

“My main goal was to cross the line, but if I was thinking about times then maybe around 12 1⁄2 to 13 hours. To do that time I’m really, really happy. I had all my family up there cheering me on as well. I think I’ve got the Ironman bug now.”

The swim proved to be the strongest leg for Cutler who emerged from the water at a peak of 15th in her 30-34 years division.

While the bike leg proved tougher going for the Bathurst competitor, losing places over the six hours in the pedals, a strong run over the marathon distance at the six minutes to the kilometre pace got her home strongly.

Cutler ended up 22nd in her age group.

The conditions looked like they would lead to a smooth day of racing but there were plenty of surprises in store for the first-time Ironwoman.

“They’d had a lot of rain on the Friday and Saturday, but the Sunday was perfect,” Cutler said.

“But that meant that the water was rather muddy. You had to swim through sticks and branches but I got through that okay.

“I then got on the bike and the first lap was good but the second lap had plenty of wind for that 90km. 

“Coming back in it was also starting to get very steamy and hot, but once I started the run it was such a buzz going through town.

“There was a hill we had to go over four times, which took me by surprise because I thought it was going to be a flat run. “Midway through the run it started to rain, but that was where the mental training really helped me,” she said.

Bathurst’s other entrant due to race, Darren Fenton, withdrew before the start.