Bourke’s Jodie Regan is off to the World Championships

Triathlon

Former Bourke girl, Jodie Stocks nee Regan, is currently in training for a 113-kilometre event after selection in the World Triathlon Championship.

Jodie is a physiologist working for the Westpac Banking Corporation, but she grew up in Bourke and went to school locally where she became involved in swimming.

“I loved swimming training in Bourke and competed around the region in swimming competitions every weekend,” Jodie said.

“When I went to uni, I took up running because it was convenient. Then I started cycling, so originally, I was doing all the legs of the triathlon separately.”

Fast forward a couple of decades and Jodie now competes in triathlons around NSW and trains by doing two swim sessions, three cycling sessions and two to three runs every week.

Her dedication to the sport has paid off, achieving qualification to the 2024 World Triathlon Championship in Taupo, New Zealand.

“I have managed to qualify in my age group for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in December,” Jodie said.

“It’s called ironman, regardless of the gender competing, and I currently compete in the 50 – 55-year age group.

An Ironman 70.3 is also known as a Half Ironman. The “70.3” refers to the total distance in miles (113km) covered in the race, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of that segment in a full Ironman triathlon.

Jodie now lives in Sydney with her family and has been racing at the 70.3 distance for 12 – 13 years and tackles the full marathon as well.

“I tend to do the 70.3 in about five and a half hours,” she said. “I’m racing the full distance in Port Macquarie in May and that usually takes me about 12 and a half hours. After that I will do a 70.3 in Western Sydney and then head to the World Championships in Taupo on December 14.”

“I stopped racing for about 10 years when I had my kids, then when I was 40, I took it back up and ran longer distances. Competing in the world champs was never an aim of mine, it just happened.”

Jodie said the US entrants are the ones to beat this year with big contingents, mainly from US and Europe.

“The race leaders will come from the US or Europe, but you can get an Australian in there sometimes.”

Jodie said that nutrition is the invisible fourth leg. […]

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