Jane Fardell recently represented Australia at the Ironman World Championships

Fardell recently returned to Australia after competing at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, a course which is one of the toughest in the world.

A 3.86km swim, followed by a 180.2km bike ride and a 42.2km run are what make up the course Fardell completed in just under 11 hours.

Fardell finished the course in 10 hours and 53 minutes but she was still proud of what she achieved.

"It's definitely good to be back racing, I qualified three years ago before the pandemic," she said.

"In hindsight, you probably shouldn't wait three years between doing Ironman races.

"The swim was good, the bike was probably I'd say the best conditions I've had there but I also found that a lot of the girls went a lot slower even though the conditions were faster so it was a tricky beast.

"The run was just hot from the get-go and everyone was in survival mode.

"It's probably not my best performance but not my worst."

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Fardell's time was good enough to place her 29th out of 199 people in her category, 155th out of 1,204 women and 405th overall out of 2,1318 people.

Being one of Australia's representatives in Hawaii, Fardell admitted the course never gets easier no matter how many times you compete there.

"It's my fifth year being in Kona, I honestly feel that I've got nothing to prove so it's just a bonus that I qualified so long ago," she said.

"I was happy to get to go race and support athletes out too because I'm in more of a coaching capacity now so passing on what you know.

"To race at a World Championships and to represent your country is always an honour.

"Always on the day with these races you can be the most well prepared but Kona's weather will always play a big part in the race.

"It was a good overall exprience."

Having qualified for the event prior to COVID-19, Fardell admitted training for an event like the World Championships is something she has become used to.

"I think I'm lucky because I have been doing this for a long time now," she said.

"My muscle memory training age is pretty old.

"I exercise as I call it then when I know there is an event coming up then I get into training mode and step up things.

"The preparation for the three months before it was faultless, I couldn't have done anything else more.

"It was the fittest I've been in a long time and it was just a matter of putting everything into the preparation, having no regrets and seeing how you go."

Now coaching the next generation of triathletes, Fardell said she gave them one simple message ahead of their competition.

"Just being prepared, Kona is a course where you can't have a certain time in mind," she said.

"You can't think you'll do the swim, bike and run in a certain time because the conditions are just so brutal.

"You get off the bike and soon realise how much it took out of you, then it's survival from aid station to aid station.

"I think it's definitely a different race to previous years because the crowds are a bit different due to there being women on one day and men the next.

"So that changed the dynamic a bit which was good, it was definitely a good experience.

"World Champs are World Champs so it's definitely an honour."

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