ONE race - that is all it took for Kerry Maloney to get hooked on triathlon.
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And well and truly hooked she is, as in the space of two months she has gone from a rookie on debut at a Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club race to now training for much bigger challenges.
Maloney will line up for the sprint event at the Husky Triathlon Festival on February 27, will tackle the Olympic distance course at April's Wollongong Triathlon, then put herself through a Half Ironman at the Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney in September.
It's a big change from someone better known in sporting circles for CrossFit.
"I decided in December that I was going to look for something else other that CrossFit just due to injury. I thought I'd just give triathlon a bit of a go as there was a club triathlon on," Maloney said.
"All I wanted to do was to be able to finish it. I didn't really know the rules, I had no idea what I was doing, I'd never ridden a bike before other than when I was about six.
"But I went out and did it and a couple of hours later I got all these messages from everybody saying congratulations. I was like 'What?' and they told me I'd won.
"I said that I hadn't because there were heaps of people that finished in front of me, but they were like 'They were in the long course'. So I was absolutely blown away, I was gob smacked, but I just loved it."
That December 14 short course success was an eye-opener - especially the swim leg which saw no lanes but competitors setting out in a bunch start.
She was some two minutes off the pace after that swim, but her cycle and run leg were the fastest splits of any female short course competitor which gave her the win.
But it was not just the success which fuelled Maloney's desire for more. It was the renowned atmosphere of the Wallabies club race.
"Everybody there is so welcoming. Transitioning from CrossFit to triathlon I expected everybody to be all about themselves ... but they weren't, they were so welcoming, it was just unreal and it's just such an amazing sport," she said.
Maloney now trains with Luke Gillmer and she has surprised herself at how her endurance across each of the three triathlon disciplines has built.
It has made her excited about the races which lie ahead - the first of which is the 750 metres swim, 20 kilometre cycle and 5km run at Huskisson.
"Ever since I've just come on leaps and bounds. I was struggling to swim a kay and now I swim two-and-a-half kays anywhere between three and five times a week," she said.
"I've just gone 'You know what? I love this'. I run 15 kays now and when I was doing CrossFit I'd struggle to run six kays - it's so different and it's crazy to think you can push your body and train your body to do anything."
Though Maloney won't race at this Sunday's Wallabies event - the penultimate round of the club's 2020-21 season - she encourages others to give it a go. Competitors can tackle a short course (300m swim, 16km cycle, 2.5km run) or long course race (500m swim, 16km cycle, 5km run) or even compete as part of a team. Racing starts 8am.
