• High Jump
• X-Country Skiing
• Recreational Cycling
• Age Group Triathlon
• Professional Cycling

High Jump

I joined the Mansfield Athletics club when I was 10 and loved competing in the high jump. A year later, at the age of 11, with the scissor style, I became the Victorian School Champion at Olympic Park. From this result, I was selected to participate in the Pacific School Games and so decided to start my 'serious' training program. My training consisted of running up and down our drive 3 or 4 times each night. Our drive was about 200m long, with a cattle grid part way along, which we had to jump over.

My father bought a book which explained the 'new Fosby flop technique' and during the 8 weeks preceding the Pacific Games, he taught me to Fosby flop. The first time I tried out the new technique was in the Pacific Games. My personal best with the scissor style was 1m39cm. I competed at the QE2 stadium in Brisbane and finished 2nd with a new personal best of 1m49cm, also a new Victorian record.

The following year I again represented Victoria, finishing 3rd in the Pacific Games. After this result, I was nominated and went on to win Sports Person of the Year, in North Eastern Victoria.

For the next 3 years, I continued to dominate in the High Jump, in Victoria, winning the Victorian State High Jump championships for 5 consecutive years. I also competed in long jump, 300m hurdles and even tried heptathlons, however, my fortè was always the high jump.

At the age of 16, I decided to study abroad as part of an exchange student program. I selected France as I loved the language and knew it would be beneficial to be able to speak another language. I lived with a French family near Chatillon-sur-sèine, midway between Paris and Dijon. They couldn't speak a word of English so I was forced to speak French just to survive. After a year of French food I returned to Australia looking far less lean than my 'natural healthy weight' and turned my hand to skiing to try and slim down again.

X-Country Skiing

I lived near Bonnie Doon and attended Mansfield High School who had a fabulous sports program every Thursday afternoon. In winter, downhill and cross country skiing were options we could choose. I chose cross-country skiing and quickly realised I was quite a proficient skier. I made the ski team in Year 11 and headed to Mt Hotham to represent Mansfield in the Australian ski championships. Our training consisted of a hard 15km of skiing every Thursday on Mt Stirling and lunch time runs on the other days. At Mt Hotham we competed in a 1.5km relay (3 skiers per team) but we were completely outclassed. We were not skilled enough to skate and couldn't win by doing the parallel stride.

However, with another year of training, we returned to Falls Creek in the following year, and racing as the underdogs, were victorious. It was a great feeling knowing we were Australian cross-country ski champions.

Recreational Cycling

At the age of 19, I headed to university and threw myself into a commerce degree, majoring in accounting. I studied hard striving for good marks to help me get a quality job. A high school friend encouraged me to ride in the Great Tasmania bike ride, telling me it wasn't too hilly!! I bought myself a state of the art canary yellow touring bike (worth AU$400) and fitted it out with toe straps and pannier racks. It would have weighted about 15kg but it was my pride and joy. I survived the ride and thoroughly enjoyed riding.

The following year, a group from university decided to ride the Great Victorian bike ride. I loved the whole experience of riding in bunches and meeting people. We were the riders that rode all day and partied all night. It was tiring work and we were exhausted by the time we reached Melbourne. The group of friends I made decided to ride the Great NSW bike ride the following year which started from the top of Mt Kosiosko and finished in Sydney. Before this last ride, I made a big investment and bought Shimano pedals and shoes for the touring bike. Ironically, the shoes and pedals were now worth more than my bike!

Age Group Triathlon

I made it through the nail biting interview process and landed a job with KPMG, an international accounting firm. I finished university in November 1993 and started work in the following April.

After 3 years at KPMG, and having developed a true 'corporate level' of fitness, I decided it was time to lose the pudge. I raced in a mini triathlon, finishing almost last, but loved it and joined a triathlon club. I met Bob Kelly (now my husband), who became my coach. I trained for 6 months and did my first Olympic distance triathlon in Noosa. Shortly after this, KPMG offered me the opportunity to work in New York so I packed my bags and headed to the Big Apple. I lived on Manhatten Island and walked to work each day. The walk was more of a jog as it was minus 25C with the wind chill factor. Training was really hard in such cold weather. KPMG arranged for us to live in serviced hotel rooms. My room was on the 26th floor and had a great view of the Empire State Building. A few times during my stay, I braved the cold and headed up to Central Park for a run.

When I returned to Melbourne in June 1998 I decided to train seriously for triathlons and try and qualify for the World Triathlon Championships in the 25-29 age group. The first ride I did was only 40km and it nearly killed me. I had absolutely no fitness. I gradually built up my fitness and went on to race the National St George series in the summer of 1998-99 and with 3 top ten finishes secured a spot on the Australian team.

In April 1999 I over did the big chain ring work (and with very little core stability at that stage) I strained a muscle off L3 (in my lower back). I had 4 weeks off completely and then starting swimming gently. The swimming didn't aggravate the strain and so I was able to swim about 15km a week. I started riding but could only ride in the small chain ring in a really light gear. Any hard pressure on the pedals caused my back to flare up. I was seeing a physiotherapist and together with plenty of massaging and easy exercise the strain healed. I was only able to resume running in August, however with the World Championships in September, I was only able to focus on having a good swim and bike and then just survive the run. I finished in the top 50 which I was happy with, given my recent injury.

My dream since the age of 10 has always been to compete at the Olympics. After many discussions with Bob during 1999, we both knew I didn't have what it takes to become an elite triathlete and make it internationally in triathlon and so we planned to turn to professional cycling after the worlds.

We travelled in Europe for a month and rested and then returned to Melbourne and started cycling in November 1999.

Professional Cycling

My attitude from day one in cycling was that I am going to represent Australia in cycling. Everything I did was with this goal in mind. I bought the Cycling Bible and read it from cover to cover. I wanted to learn as much as possible as fast as I could. Bob started me off riding 200km a week during November and December of 1999. I was impatient to ride further.

In January 2000, I entered three of the Skilled Bay Criteriums and lasted about 6 minutes in the bunch before being dropped. Bob told me that next year I would be racing them properly and finishing in the bunch - I found it impossible to believe. Well, he proved me wrong because I did race in all the Skilled Bay criteriums in 2001 and although I didn't place, I was happy with my racing.

I spent the Year 2000 putting km's in the legs and trying not to get dropped. In 2001, I decided it was time to head overseas and chose USA / Canada for 8 weeks of racing. I got myself into a cycling team, Office Depot, and rode the HP Women's Challenge in Idaho, a 13 stage tour, with plenty of mountains and other challenges. I survived the tour and had an incredible learning experience. Refer to my race report for all the details.

Although completely fatigued after the tour, I headed to Fitchburg and after only 3 days rest, started another tour. I suffered on the first day, until my legs came good. I finished a pleasing 21st, racing as an individual. My final challenge was a combined Canadian tour, Tour de Delta and Whiterock.

I think I surprised myself by taking out the overall tour victory, and won two stages, which was a fabulous way to end my first year abroad. This first trip overseas was the start of a challenging but rewarding international road career.