She had to do it the hard way after being “bashed” from pillar to post throughout a chaotic swim leg.

“That swim … I’ve never been bashed so much,” Roberts said.

“I don’t know if it’s because of where I started in the rolling start, but I had people on top of me the whole way.”

While it was unsettling at times, Roberts navigated her way out of the swim leg in one piece despite being on the receiving end of a stray foot to the nose.

“Some people if you touch their toes they do a massive kick in your face,” she said.

“I got kicked in the nose and thought I was going to come out with blood everywhere, but I was alright.

The 23-year-old said the key to emerging out the other side was remaining focused.

“You’ve got to be aggressive and not stress about it,” she said.

“They’re not doing it on purpose so you’ve just got to know they probably have someone on the other side of them too.”

The win was even more special for the home-town girl who now lives on the Gold Coast as it provided father Andrew with his first opportunity to see his daughter succeed live.

“My dad hasn’t really gotten to see me race,” she said.

“It’s always been mum travelling all over the world with me so it was nice for him to see me win as well as my sister and all my local friends.”

Roberts’ success in Port Macquarie backed up her previous successes in New Zealand and Cairns over the last 12 months.

It also provided another stepping stone to the 70.3 world championships in South Africa in September, but she won’t be competing in a full Ironman event in the near future.

“I think 70.3 is my distance and I’m only 23 at the moment,” she said.

“So I think if I do step up to (full-distance) Ironman I’ll wait until I’m around 28.

“I’d like to go professional in 70.3 next year because I’m doing 70.3 worlds in September so I’ll see how I go with that in South Africa and then go pro after that.”

There was plenty of home town support cheering Roberts on – and she heard every single voice from the Port Macquarie Triathlon Club.

“I had people all over the course from Port Macquarie Tri Club cheering me and it just made the run so enjoyable,” she said.

“The only hard part was out at Settlement Point because there aren’t that many people out there so that was my least favourite part.

“But I knew it wasn’t too far to run out there and I’d be back with all the supporters again.”

For now, the 23-year-old has her sights set on the next challenge on the Gold Coast as preparations for South Africa step up a gear.

“It’s running season now so I’ll go and do the Gold Coast half marathon in about two weeks but we’ll see how the body holds up,” she said.

“Then I’ll focus on South Africa.”