On August 19, the 52-year-old competes in the sprint duathlon in the 50-54 years age group in Penticton, British Columbia.

“This is a relatively new sport for me as I have previously been an ultra distance runner and cyclist,” Williams said.

The race consists of a 5km run, 20km road cycle and a 2.5km run to finish in around one hour.

“It is important to get a fast first run leg to get into the lead bike group. Once in that group it is a tactical race for 20km sharing – or maybe not sharing – the hard work to stay ahead of the other packs of riders. Then is a flat-out 2.5km sprint to the finish,” Williams said.

The personal trainer will need to recover quickly when he backs up for Australia in the World Cross Triathlon Age Group Championships on August 23.  The event consists of a 1.5km lake swim, 30km mountain bike ride and 8km trail run.

Last year he was seventh in the 50-54 years age group and he’s hoping to do better this year.

On August 6, Williams also competed in the international Xterra offroad triathlon in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, placing third in his age group.

“The winner, who is representing Canada in Penticton, was 15 minutes faster than me in the bike leg after I crashed twice on a very technical course,” Williams said. 

“I only brought my hardtail MTB [mountain bike] over with me so with no suspension on a quite scary bike course it was very exciting. I had a faster time than the winner on the swim and run legs so with a less technical course I am hoping to be right up there with the leaders [at Penticton].”

On August 13 he competed in his last event before the duathlon, an Olympic distance triathlon in Calgary.

“In between all of this I am training hard and spending time with my girlfriend hiking and doing the tourist thing in the Rockies,” Williams said.

He said he has had great support in the lead-up to the events from Plus Fitness Katoomba and his personal training clients at Blue Mountains Fitness.