MELINDA Cockshutt will celebrate her 40th birthday in Hawaii next year.
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The fitness fanatic may not find too much time to indulge and celebrate, though.
Instead, she will be competing in the Kona, Ironman Championships.
Cockshutt was granted a spot in the world champs after yet another stellar effort, this time at Busselton, Western Australia.
She finished the full course in nine hours and 45 minutes, was the first in her age group to finish and 14th female overall.
"I am excited because next year is my 40th birthday so I thought I may as well celebrate it in Hawaii," she said.
Cockshutt completed the swim in 55.21 seconds and she credited her quick time to the help from Michael and Cheryl at the Port Macquarie Swimming Pool.
She also attributed her speedy time on the bike of 5:11.13 to her training partners Daniel Voltz and Jim Sanderson.
Her run was complete in three hours, 32.26 seconds.
Conditions were near perfect for the 1500 competitors although one thought may have been running through the mind of the swimmers before launching themselves in the water.
"We ran through the shark evacuation procedure during race briefing," Cockshutt said.
"Lots of sharks live in the water so we had plenty of water safety."
Before Cockshutt takes on Kona, she will first contend with another long course event, this time in Huskinsson in February.
"I will also get back to doing some surf life saving competitions," she said.
"I also have about 20 people I'm coaching who will be lining up for the Port Macquarie Ironman in May."