CONTINUING an Australia Day tradition with her Wallabies family - for Barb Hill that is what the Bathurst round of the Central West Inter-club Triathlon Series is all about.
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While the Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club will be aiming for maximum points in the second round of the series on Tuesday to try and close the gap on current joint leaders Orange and Mudgee, Hill is looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere.
"I do look forward to this, absolutely, that's now a tradition in the family. I always had an Australia Day tradition and that ended about five years ago and this replaced it beautifully," Hill said.
"My family are nerds, they don't do any of this, so when I say family I mean my [Wallabies] tribe.
"It's just a great family day, it's a great format, extra people come along to it, it's just a lot of fun.
"I love the competition between the clubs."
It was five seasons ago that Hill was first convinced to try a triathlon by Anna Blackie and while it meant learning bike-handling skills, it's a sport she has developed a passion for.
She has not only been a regular at Bathurst Wallabies events - she's even been know to do the women's triathlon run leg in a tutu - but she's travelled to contest other events across the Central West.
"I first started five years ago, I came to parkrun and Anna and the others roped me in. They asked 'Do you swim?' and then introduced me to the bike," Hill said.
"You find when you go to events in Mudgee, Orange, Dubbo, Forbes and I've even been to one from Manly, you wear the [Wallabies] shirt and people from the Central West see it it come up and say 'Hi, I'm such and such from Orange'. It's just lovely."
People from Orange, Mudgee, Dubbo and Cowra are all expected to compete on Tuesday and unlike regular Bathurst races, the long course event will be a grand prix format.
It means instead of starting in the pool, the race opens with a 2.5 kilometre run leg.
That is followed by a 200m swim, 16km cycle leg, another 200m before finishing off with a final 2.5km run.
As Hill said, it's a format she enjoys and one she thinks adds to the atmosphere of the event.
"Australia Day is usually hot and with this format you get that second swim which is really nice," she said.
"I really like the start too, because you start running with your friends and you can talk and banter before you start really running, whereas in the pool you start with your head down.
"I still compete, but it's a little bit more relaxed and there's more banter, camaraderie."
A short course race (2.5km run, 200m swim,16km cycle) is also on offer and its format is slightly different from regular club races as well.
It is expected to be a capacity field for the event, with senior racing to commence at 9.30am.
