Rising Kanahooka triathlete Mitch Blackbourn is on a mission to win the Australian Triathlon Championships junior men's division for a second straight year.
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Only victory in Wollongong on the weekend of April 20-21 will secure the 18-year-old a spot on the Australian team to compete in the upcoming World Junior Triathlon Championships.
The former Edmund Rice College student represented Australia in last year's World Junior Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany after winning the national championships.
"I want o represent Australia again at the junior worlds so I'll be out to win again. I know the only way I can make the Australian team is by winning so I'll be doing everything in my power to win," Blackbourn said.
This year's national championships will be held in Wollongong as part of an expanded Wollongong Triathlon Festival.
Wollongong's iconic Triathlon Festival is now in its 13th year, with 2024 marking the beginning of an exciting three-year deal which will see three major triathlons be held in the city.
The first is the 2024 World Triathlon Cup.
Around 200 international athletes will race a Sprint distance triathlon along Wollongong's foreshore on Saturday, April 21, following the Australian Championships for Junior Men's and Women's Sprint, and Para and Intellectual Impairment athletes.
The World Triathlon Cup will serve as a test event for the World Triathlon Championship finals in 2025, which will also be held in Wollongong.
Blackbourn is ecstatic Wollongong is hosting such prestigious events but was focused on realising his own dreams.
"I've got a long-term goal to represent Australia at an Olympics but to do that I need to do well in these events," he said.
"I'm looking forward to racing in front of family and friends here in Wollongong. Hopefully I can rise to the occasion and win for a second straight year."
Blackbourn, who placed 25th at last year's World Junior Triathlon Championships and picked up a sixth-place finish at a junior European Cup meet as well as a second and third-place result at the Australian Junior Super Sprint Series in Adelaide, was leaving nothing to chance heading into the Australian Triathlon Championships.
A regular training week for the teenager included six triathlon sessions, three runs, three to four rides and at least two gym sessions.
"I'm going all out to make the junior worlds again," Blackbourn said.
"The start list hasn't come out yet but I expect Australia's best junior triathletes to show up in Wollongong.
"It's exciting but I'm just concentrating on myself. I'm training hard to give myself the best chance of winning it again."
Following Saturday's jam-packed schedule for runners, swimmers and spectators, the annual Peoplecare Triathlon will take place on Sunday, April 21 with a swim, bike and run challenge for athletes of all levels.
The weekend's events at the Wollongong Harbour and Lang Park precinct promise to unite fitness enthusiasts, eager novices, thrill-seekers, and families alike in a celebration of health, wellness and community spirit.
Wollongong City Council Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery AM said Council was pleased to have hosted the triathlon festival in the city for more than 12 years and are excited to see it grow into an international event attracting some of the world's most elite triathletes to Wollongong.
Visit www.eliteenergy.com.au/event/wollongong-triathlon-festival/ for more information on the Wollongong Triathlon Festival.