A GROUP of Port Macquarie athletes have gone from strength to strength under the guidance of former Ironman Peter Murray, and will now head to the 70.3 World Championships in a group assault on Austria.
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Craig Smith, Joel Armitage, Nicole Bann-Murray and Dave Hewitson are fresh from doing well at their home 70.3 on Sunday. They have shown what can be achieved by pushing themselves to the limit and training as mates with Pete Murray Performance.
They will compete at Salzburg on August 29.
Glen Triggs also qualified, but won't compete in the northern hemisphere.
Triggs came third in the 40-44 category.
Bann-Murray was third in the 40-44, while Hewitson was placed the same in the 50-59.
Armitage was seventh in the 30-34. Murray got to witness his charges' achievements first-hand from the commentary box at the finishing chute.
"I'm stoked for the guys," he said.
"When Nicole came up the chute in third, I couldn't believe it."
A gruelling and "old-school" training schedule for the past six weeks has been one of the keys to the group's success.
"They've trained pretty hard," Murray said. "We try to hurt each other as much as we can."
A typical week would involve three runs of up to an hour and 45 minutes in length, three swims of two to three kilometres and three rides of two to four hours.
It's paid off, big time.
"These guys are the top of their age groups," Murray said.
Now they are set for an Austrian adventure.
For Smith, it will be about redemption.
He didn't have too good a day at last year's world champs in Las Vegas.
That's part of the sport.
Smith's run leg let him down on Sunday, too.
"A lot of things didn't feel very good," he said.
Murray has a long history with the sport.
He's done about 200 races all up, including 13 full-distance Ironmans.
He retired in "2004 or 2005".
"But it's not about me," he said.
"It's about them."