WHEN it comes to triathlon Richard Hobson has represented his country and conquered the most gruelling events, but he has also acted as a motivator and an inspiration.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Two of those who have caught the passion for the sport and are benefiting from his experience, are his daughters Lucy and Poppy.
Both took part in the Bathurst Wallabies women's only triathlon last Sunday, Poppy making her senior debut in the sport while Lucy backed up after contesting the Western Sydney 70.3 Ironman alongside her Dad seven days earlier.
"It hurt backing up after Western Sydney, but having him there on the sideline cheering me and Poppy on was great," Lucy said.
"Having a Dad with as much experience as he has and the resume in triathlon that he has, that's been really motivating for me. I can learn from all his experiences, he shares all his tips and tricks - it's awesome."
Lucy was one of the fastest to cover the 200 metres swim, 16 kilometre cycle and 2.5km run in one of the quickest times of the day - a 45 minutes, 49 seconds effort.
She was pleased with her effort in the pool - a 3:05 - while her bike split of 28.36 was a personal best.
"It's always good to support local races, I love racing at home, everyone encourages each other, especially with this women's event, it really encourages everyone to get involved with this awesome sport," she said.
But Lucy was perhaps even prouder of her 15-year-old sister Poppy as she did her first senior triathlon
"She did the little kids ones years and years ago when she was very tiny, but this was her first big adults race. She absolutely loved it, she did awesome and I'm so proud of her," she said.
"It was great to see her out on course and cheer her on. So it's a big family affair triathlon these days.
"She reminds me of me when I was at that age. She came along to Western Sydney to watch me and Dad race and I think she caught the bug a little bit. I guess the three of us are the crazy ones in the family, after Sunday she's really motivated to start training more and getting into more racing."
While Lucy herself made a return to the sport last season, balancing study and work placement for the final year of her university degree - a bachelor of physiotherapy - meant she only contested a handful of races.
It means she is keen to "concentrate more and really plan out what to do" in the sport over the coming months. More half Ironman events as well as local races are on the agenda.
"We'll see where that goes, I'm on Team Wyn for 2020 so that's a good platform to meet new people and it encourages me to enter more races," she said.
