WHILE Mark Windsor was undoubtedly delighted to win another Triathlon Australia National Championships title on Sunday, he got just as much satisfaction from seeing the performances of his Bathurst club-mates.
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Windsor was one of five Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club members who competed at the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival, with Jen Arnold, Steve Jackson, Danielle Patterson and Howard Yen joining him at the event.
Windsor made it back-to-back 55-59 years men's division national titles as he covered the 1.5 kilometres swim, 40km cycle and 10km course in a time of two hours, 14 minutes 16 seconds.
Not surprisingly his cycle leg was once more a feature, his split of 59.40 the 21st quickest out of the 1,676 competitors.
The winning effort earned him automatic qualification for the Australian Age Group Team which will contest the 2020 International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Grand Final.
"I had a win which was really nice, I'm in the last year of my age group so I wasn't expecting too much," he said.
"I've had a bit of a checkered run this year, I wasn't even thinking about going, but it was nice to defend the title again and get another win.
"Winning the national title is a great thing, it's a great event up there, I love the event."
Just as Windsor was happy to be crowned an Australian champion, it was clear he took pride in the efforts of the other Bathurst Wallabies.
While he is no longer based in Bathurst, former Wallabies president Yen still races under the outfit's banner. He placed 24th in the 55-59 years men's division, clocking a time of 2:33.26.
Jackson (2:29.32) was an impressive sixth in the 60-64 men's, Arnold (2:46.46) ranked 29th in the 35-39 years women's category, while Patterson (3:01.27) was the 33rd quickest of the 40-44 years women.
"Everyone did well, we all got in the top 40, the lot of us. Given that it's a national title, it's nice to make that national top 40 sort of ranking. It's a wonderful effort for the club," Windsor said.
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"Steve Jackson and Jen, they are really pushing to try and qualify for the worlds and there was double points on up here for that. They went full gas, they couldn't be more committed.
"Jen's pretty close to qualifying, so she's pretty excited about that.
"She's brand new to the sport, she's given everything to try and get in there, she's having a red hot go at trying to qualify. She's done Coffs [Harbour] and Canberra and she'll probably have another go at Wollongong, she's having a dead-set crack to get in the Australian team.
"Her 29th was a super effort considering how long she's been in the sport."
However, it was Patterson who Windsor had the highest praise for.
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Though she could have finished higher up the field were it not for her issues on the cycle leg - a discipline she shines in - her fellow Wallaby was full of admiration.
"I couldn't have been more impressed with Danielle ... the whole event, the work load she does with her kids and getting organised," he said.
"She did a special triathlon with her son Lachie, there was a lot of running and swimming in that.
"She then checked on the kids and backed up an hour later to do a 17 minutes in the Ocean Swim, which is a PB, to come 13th. Then she checked the kids were all settled down again.
"She backed up again the next morning and she still managed to come 33rd in a national title despite a heap of drama in the cycle.
"She's a wonderful athlete considering she's a working mum and all the things she does. She did three events up there, she doesn't stop, it's crazy."
The 2020 Australian Age Group team Windsor has qualified for will head to Edmonton, Canada, for the world titles in August next year.
