Elite endurance athlete Mel Currey has added another feather to her cap after representing Dubbo on the international stage.
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Currey, who qualified for the Ultra Spartan World Championships in Sweden by placing in a number of Australian endurance events held over the past year, says the competition was challenging, but rewarding.
"It was a great time but really brutal, which is the combination of the year, so yeah it was good," Currey said.
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The gruelling endurance event, which tests athletes both physically and mentally, is one of the toughest challenges Currey has faced since beginning her athletics journey.
"To get into the Spartan Ultra World Championships, you have to qualify by making some decent places in the other races throughout the year," Currey said.
"Then you get to go to Sweden and run in the toughest, hardest race that there is, it goes for twenty four hours and you do as many laps as you possibly can."
The challenge, which involves running and a variety of 'ninja warrior' style obstacles, served up plenty of defining moments for Currey, who at one point found herself crawling under barbed wire, through thick snow, in freezing temperatures.
"It was quite the challenge, it's a big shock coming from Dubbo, I think the thing that hit me the most was opening up my pack with all my supplies in it and finding out that all the water and food had frozen."
"It's a big skiing area called Are in Sweden, so it was snowing the whole time, it was very brutal conditions."
Those conditions were made worse almost immediately for Currey, who suffered a broken hand in the event's first lap.
"One of the guys dropped a frozen sandbag, which is about 20 kilograms, and it landed on my hand, but I wanted to go on and get the required number of laps to get the finish," Currey said.
Despite being faced with the unexpected extra challenge, Currey didn't consider quitting the competition for a second.
"You work hard for these things all year and at that point it becomes a question of 'is this just another obstacle to get through?' Or am I going to throw that entire year's worth of work away?"
While a return to her usual training regime of lugging tyres and weighted bags up hills is still out of reach, Currey is committed to returning to her normal efforts as soon as possible.
"The hand's going well, so I should be all set and ready to go at the beginning of the year."
Currey says that the drive to continue competing, even in the most challenging conditions, comes from a philosophy of self improvement, and a desire to set an example for others.
"I always chase the opportunity to be better today than I was yesterday, I try and set these challenges that are quite hard so that when I meet a new obstacle I can say, 'well, you were stuck in a blizzard in Iceland, that's harder than what you're doing now'," Currey said.
"I just think as people we have a responsibility to set examples because we never know who's watching."
It's something Currey tries to impart to as many people as possible, including her own family.
"Having five children and five grandchildren, for me that's what it's all about, showing others you can do anything you put your mind to."