What I learnt from my sporting journey
I was born and raised in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Sport became a big part of my life from early on. I was naturally talented at sports partaking in athletics, swimming, nippers, tennis, skiing and gymnastics as a child. I remember being so nervous on carnival days and when entering the rough seas of Bronte Beach for a swim or board event. These early experiences set me up for a life of sport and competition.
In late primary school / early high school, I began to concentrate on just swimming and athletics. I was a young Breastroke champion in the pool, performing at state level and I would compete across all events in athletics - sprints, jumps and distance - as well as cross country. I come from a family of runners. My aunt, Elizabeth Miller, was a Junior National Champion on the track and became a renowned distance runner, winning the City To Surf in 1997. My cousin, Lara Tamsett, with whom I grew up and ran, was a multiple National 10km Champion, represented Australia at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, World Half Marathon Championships and 2013 World Athletics Championships. My mother was a track runner and hurdler and my father was a 400m runner and an established rugby union player. Running was definitely in the blood.
In mid-high school I developed an eating disorder. As with many teenage girls I thought that thinner was better (which it’s not). I went to a private girls school in Sydney and that environment did not help. Sport wasn’t really valued at my school either, its focus was more academic and on the arts, in particular music and drama. By this time, I had narrowed my sporting focus down to middle distance and cross country running. I had my first coach, Sean Williams, and was training with an elite squad in Sydney and representing the Randwick-Botany Harriers Athletics Club. Sean was, and still is, fanatical about running and athletics. His expertise and passion is exemplary. While I claimed a Junior NSW 1500m title and finished top 5 at nationals under Sean, I was under strength and just missed out on selection in Australian Youth Teams.
After finishing school in 2006, I made the decision to go back to some speed work. I was fortunate to meet the eccentric coach, Roger Fabri. Fabri was new to coaching but with plans to build an empire (find my story on him here). I joined his training group, the Roger Ramjet Track Club, focusing on shorter distances and racing in the NSW Athletic League (these are handicap races with prize money, think Stawell Gift as the biggest one in Australia). I’m not going to lie, these were fun days. Fabri also trained footy players for their speed work, and I remember training hill sprints or sleds in Centennial Park or on Coogee oval with the footy boys, the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Jarryd Hayne and Todd Carney. I often had to finish the session with 300m intervals that would make me vomit. There were some other great characters in the squad too.
While I definitely got fit and fast with Fabri, I was prone to getting injured. In my peak 400m form I strained my hamstring in the week leading up to the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast. This hamstring injury continued to hamper me. I could not shake it. In early 2008, still struggling with the injury, renowned Sydney sports doctor, Dr Nathan Gibbs, said to me, “Just go and do something else that’s not running for a while”. So that winter I headed down to the NSW Snowy Mountains and worked as a ski instructor in Thredbo. After a successful season attaining my instructor levels, I was poached by my trainer, Kate Haring, to join her and great skier, Hugo Haring, to instruct overseas in Austria. I was just 19 years old. In Austria, I skied, partied, drank beer and schnapps, and learnt German.
While I am a good skier and could have pursued a career following winters and instructing at higher levels, my heart always drew me back to my running. When I returned to Australia, I had a lot of work to do on the running front. It soon became obvious that I had lost my strong aerobic running base. At this point, due to ongoing injuries, I accepted my sprinting days were over.
With the encouragement of a good friend and great athlete, Sianne Tomoe, I joined the Sydney University Athletics Club. Headed by Dean Gleeson (aka Deano), this training group was a wonderful, social and competitive group of people - friendships that I still have to this day. I started focusing on middle distance and cross country again and raced in NSW State Competitions. It was in this training group that I acquired my nickname, G-Force. One of my training partners from this group, Catriona Bisset, is now one of the best 800m runners in the world and competed in the event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Also during these years I played mixed touch football with an awesome bunch of people in Queens Park. I was known for writing the famous “touch report” following each game. In 2015 we were runners up in a competitive Sydney draw.
While I have many fond memories of Deano’s training squad, I was balancing career and sport and another growing and efficient running group, SWEAT Sydney, caught my attention. I joined SWEAT Sydney and my running continued to improve, just before BOOM injury struck again. Anyone who looks at my feet will see how bony and narrow they are. My achilles had always been a weakness but in 2017 it decided to completely fail me. I developed an insertional achilles injury, an overuse injury but also due to the extra bone in my heel, known as ‘haglunds deformity’. After being a runner my whole life, I realised that I actually had the worst feet possible for running. Following the onset of this injury began a long 3-4 years of physios, doctors, treatments, rehab, rest, and on and off running. During this time I started cross training, mainly swimming and cycling.
Throughout my 20s, a few people mentioned I should try a triathlon but the idea never crystallised. As I was now swimming and cycling while trying to get my achilles better, I became more open to the idea. In 2020, I was undergoing rounds of PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injections on my achilles (the final straw, that worked!) and I set myself the goal of completing a BRAT Club Triathlon in Sydney later that year. After finishing this triathlon I became completely obsessed with the sport and never looked back. My inspirational family friend, Marc Ware, was instrumental to my introduction to triathlon that summer and to building my knowledge and passion, especially on the bike. I then made the decision to relocate to Jindabyne and channel my energy into triathlon (this was also around the time of Covid).
In 2021, I continued to achieve great results in triathlon races and I decided to look for a coach. From a google search I found ‘Trivelo Coaching’, which had some excellent reviews and an awesome podcast. It was not long before I was chatting to Head Coach and former Australian Ironman Champion, Gerard Donnelly, and we instantly clicked. I started Gerard’s training program in June that year. I excelled massively under the guidance of Gerard having a successful 21/22 season of triathlon racing. My cycling especially reached new heights and my learning curve on bikes was massive.
In 2022 I was my fittest ever, heading overseas to a World Triathlon Sprint triathlon race in Montreal, and then to Boulder in Colorado and Switzerland for a summer of high altitude training. While I was in great athletic form, something just felt “a bit off". I returned to Australia later in August, sneaking in some ski days on the mountain. I maintained my form through to some other big races that year. However, it was in Abu Dhabi at the World Triathlon Age Group Standard Distance Championships (a race at which I had set myself my biggest goal for the year), that I crashed on the bike, unable to display all the hard work I had done that year. My Abu Dhabi crash was a big reset for me. I started to reflect on why I was pursuing this sport and spending my time doing all this hard training. I was a bit confused about my purpose.
In 2023 I built back into some good training and fitness but I struggled to get to the start line of any big races. As we know in sports, sometimes getting to the start line can be the hardest part. It was sad to part ways with Gerard in August 2023. He believed in me greatly to make it as a professional triathlete, even at my age. But sometimes priorities just change.
After going through some strong brainstorming regarding what I wanted to do to compliment triathlon (and not wanting to return to an office job in the city), my elder sister and I came up with the idea of creating our own activewear brand. The idea had been there for a while but in 2023 we started to get more serious about it. Move forward to 2024, we are soon going into production with plans to launch our first collection of garments in 2025.
We hope our brand, sports bras and activewear will help you “Find Your Flow”, whatever that is. Whether it is riding bikes, kayaking, skiing, hitting the gym, doing cross fit or a yoga class, playing your favourite sport or simply going for a walk or run. We really believe in not comparing yourself to others and just being the best you can be. We always want more, to be fitter and better, to reach personal bests and have better performances. It is important to just be.
These days I’m coaching myself as I build the sports bra and activewear brand with my sister. The fire for triathlon is still burning but in a more measured way. I’m reading a great book, ROAR by Stacy T. Sims, which talks about how to maximise female physiology for optimal performance. I would love to get out and race again but competition aside I know that aerobic exercise is really important to me, to get the heart pumping and clear my mind. I also recently discovered a new love for hiking which calms my mind.
I have associated myself with some very successful sportspeople in recent years and this has just added fuel to my fire. Being surrounded by people passionate about their sport or activity is what inspires me. And Jindabyne is one place that is great for that. Most importantly I have found that all my learnings from sport have translated to life as well.
From my unwavering family support, to all the amazing coaches I have had and all the people I have met along the way, thank you. Thank you for being part of my journey.
I know that if I’d found triathlon earlier and started in my early 20s instead of early 30s, I may have had a professional career. But at the same time I would not have had the journey that I had.
While I know I’m a high achiever, I have realised over time that it’s ok to have a break and do nothing. To not always go ‘bull at a gate’ and be so hard on myself. To just be grateful for every day that I’m breathing. Because as quoted in the famous Cool Runnings movie, “If you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it”.