Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship: Former National Rower Takes on Western Sydney

Having competed at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC) for more than a decade, former national rowing representative Rhiannon Hughes has a special relationship with the Penrith complex and she is hoping her “local knowledge” will come in handy when she competes at the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship Western Sydney on Sunday 26 November.

But the Adelaide based, former nationally ranked sculler, turned triathlete, will get a different view of the Regatta Centre when she competes over the 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21km of the Ironman 70.3 format.

“I have spent a lot of time at the Regatta Centre and it was pretty much my second home. We were always out at Penrith for all of our trials, State and National and all of the competition was done out there. It is going to be weird to be in the water rather than one top of it but that is what attracted me to doing Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney. Initially, I was ‘Oh I never want to go back there’ but I have swung back around and I want to head back.”
Born in the UK and growing up in Alice Springs, Rhiannon’s childhood was centred around dance and it wasn’t until she moved to Adelaide for study that she discovered a new world of sculling and rowing.

“Mum is a nurse and Dad is a doctor and they wanted somewhere warmer to live so we were transplanted to the middle of Australia. I always got a chuckle out of the fact that I ended up in rowing, given that there is no water up there in the Alice.”

“I was into my dancing as a kid, nothing like netball or anything like that, I did everything but ballet dance wise. When I moved down to Adelaide I was looking for a new sport and the South Australian Sports Institute was doing some testing. I was doing Sports Science as a degree and given I am six feet tall, have long arms and legs I fitted their potential mould. So they did a battery of tests and they matched me to either rowing or cycling. Coming from the desert I said ‘Give me some water’. They basically dumped me into the rowing program and for the next 13 years I was training twice a day and I managed to represent the state and the country.”

“Most of the competition was done in single sculls and they put the fastest combinations together and from there you get put into whatever boat they tell you that you are in. Most of the time I raced in a double scull and the aim was always the Olympics and I narrowly missed out last year with a few injuries. I got invited to the selection regattas and the Olympic process but I didn’t quite make it unfortunately. So a bit over a year and a half ago that is where the interest in triathlon started.”

Rhiannon said that after years of training three sessions a day there was a real desire to keep training and find a competitive outlet and triathlon was a natural place to start.

“You need a pretty good engine to row so moving onto triathlon was fairly natural as I was always doing a fair bit of riding as cross training and also a bit of running. I was going to two to three training sessions a day with rowing so I almost wanted to fill that void. You hear all the stories of elite athletes going from that much training to nothing, so there was a bit of a fear of not wanting to do that and of course, I love eating. So not wanting to turn into the side of a house, I basically continued with the two training sessions a day with my triathlon.”

Rhiannon’s first triathlon was a local one in Adelaide but she quickly ramped up the distance competing in the standard distance Noosa Triathlon and Ironman 70.3 Ballarat last year.

“I really got a feel for the sport and loved it instantly and of course my competitive nature was always going to be there. I just wanted to take it a little bit further and look for the next challenge. My ability to train, commitment and ability to hurt was transferable to triathlon and that is certainly what I think has helped me progress as quickly as I have in the 18 months I have been doing it. I thrive on the mental toughness and the push and I love the time trial bike and things like that. I certainly like to see how far I can push myself.”

“Rowing gave me the rhythm and the pacing and that is why I preferred the 70.3 racing. It is slightly longer and I am definitely not a sprint athlete. You get into a rhythm and a pace and there is the mental endurance and mental toughness of pushing yourself that makes it quite similar to rowing.”

Rhiannon and her fellow triathletes from Adelaide’s Lakers Triathlon Club are joining more than 1200 athletes competing at the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship Western Sydney looking for personal best or to qualify for Ironman 70.3 World Championship to be held in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa next year.

“I am doing Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney and I have Ironman 70.3 Geelong booked in as well in February next year and I will do whatever I need to qualify. I imagine 70.3 Western Sydney is going to be very busy with the Asia Pacific Championship so we will see how it goes,” Rhiannon said.