While Howard has been a regular at Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club races, she said it had been “three or four years” since she last took part in a round of the annual series which involves her club as well as Mudgee, Orange, Cowra and Dubbo.

But with Bathurst hosting the third round of the 2019 event, Howard was keen to show her support for the Wallabies and get involved.

The change in format for the series - it was a 2.5km run, 200 metres swim then 16 kilometre cycle to finish – did require a tactical adjustment from Howard, but she executed well.

She was first to dive into the pool after a quick transition from the run leg and though she lost time – as expected – before emerging from the water, Howard was only around a minute off the lead.

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On the familiar cycle leg Howard reeled in Orange teenager Sophie Martin, her split of 25:55 helping her to a comfortable win.

Howard clocked a 44:57 effort to take the honours over Martin (47:48) and another of Orange’s talented teens in Britanny Boswell (50:31).

“It was good that there was a swim in between because it sort of took the edge off the sun a little bit,” Howard said, referencing the temperature rising to 33 degrees during the race.

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“I’ve not done many of these at all, so I was unsure how to play it. Do you go harder at the start to negate your loss in the water? But it was still fun.”

While happy to win, Howard was just as pleased to see how many triathletes from across the region – 153 individuals and nine teams – took part in the Bathurst-hosted round.

“There are so many people here today, it’s so amazing,” she said. “The sport is just growing and everyone is so encouraging.”