Local multi-sport star Jane Fardell first dreamed of competing in the famed Ironman World Championship at Kona when she was 16 years old and last month she achieved that lifetime goal.

And not only did Fardell complete the incredibly gruelling course, she finished third in the women’s 35-39 years division after passing the line in the time of just over 10 hours and 12 minutes.

“I had no expectations going in, I just wanted to enjoy the whole experience and maybe I enjoyed it too much but it’s Kona and something like that could be a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Fardell said after returning to Dubbo earlier this week.

The former marathon runner felt she could have produced a faster time but couldn’t help but allow herself to soak in the famed event and incredible scenery around Hawaii’s coastline and lava fields.

Kona is regarded as one of the most difficult races in the world and often referred to as the “ultimate test of body, mind and spirit”.

But after preparing for the worse possible conditions, Fardell admitted she didn’t find it too painful and added all the years of training through the 45 degree summers at Dubbo was the perfect preparation.

“I expected the worse and that didn’t really happen so that was a good thing,” she said. “The general feeling was it was an average Kona. Not the worst conditions ever but not the best either.”

Fardell completed the event in the official time of 10:12:35, which as well as placing her third in her division gave her an overall ranking of 578th out of roughly 2,300 starters.

Her swim leg was completed in a time of 1:01.39, the bike leg took 5:40.50 and the marathon run leg was run in 3:24.43.

After having time to think back on it all, Fardell has no doubts it ranks as a career highlight.

“It’s definitely in the top three,” she said.

“Running at the World Championship is a number one and I’ve had some great podiums in Ironman events and represented Australia as well.

“But I’d been wanting to do this since I was 16 and I did it on my own terms.”

Now back home in Dubbo, Fardell confessed there is the chance she may take part in another race before the end of the year but said she will be taking some time in deciding on her next big event.

A return to Kona could also be on the cards in 2017, with Fardell saying she knows she has “a lot of room for improvement”.

Fardell only qualified for the triathlon at Kona a month prior to the event and she said with more preparation she could have run a sub three hours and 20 minutes marathon in the final leg of the World Championship.