WHEN Mercede Cornelius-Feltus starts her swim leg in a Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club race it's not usually a question of whether she will get out of the pool first but how big her margin will be.
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On Sunday we got an answer to a new scenario: Would Cornelius-Feltus still be out of the pool first if she had to swim an extra 100 metres than the rest of the field?
The answer? Yes.
Cornelius-Feltus accidentally imposed a self-handicap to her Carroll-Scott Memorial race on the weekend after miscounting her laps in the Manning Aquatic Centre pool, but that would only turn out to be a minor hindrance as she cruised to a comfortable win.
The memorial victory was achieved by Corenlius-Feltus in a time of 44 minutes and 25 seconds.
Candice Falconer (54:00) was the runner-up and Chelsea Hosking (59:01) won a great scrap for the remaining spot on the podium.
Cornelius-Feltus was able to see the funny side of her mistake after the race.
"I just lost count," she laughed.
"It didn't end up hurting me too much, I just worked hard over the bike and the run.
"I was just trying to catch up after that and was trying to pass as many of the boys as possible. The legs felt really good over the bike and the run."
Had it not been for the extra two laps Corenlius-Feltus' time may have been close enough to challenge for the overall podium.
Her time was just 36 seconds away from the overall fourth place finisher Josh Stapley.
It's been an impressive rise through the triathlon ranks for the long time swimmer who has only added the bike and run to her repetoire over the past year.
"I've had a few competitions lately. On the weekend before I had Big Husky and had a week of recovery before doing this one here," she said.
"I also had the Orange Running Festival and that went alright. I did the 5km there and came fourth.
"I've been a swimmer for around five years and went to five rounds of nationals. I'd say I started doing triathlon around a year ago and I've been really enjoying it.
"My swim coach wanted me to give triathlon a go because he thought I would be good at it."
Cornelius-Feltus' run leg of 10:17 for the 2.5km distance was third overall fastest.
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Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
