Hockley finished as the fastest amateur female in the race, and recorded her first place finish in her age group, but the tri-athlete revealed she almost didn’t enter the northern event.

She explained her entry into the Ironman Australia event in Port Macquarie came last minute, with her original plans simply including just the Cairns Ironman – the last qualification event on the calendar.

After the endurance athlete got a taste for success at the 2017 championships, where she placed seventh, she took extra precautions to make sure she could succeed in qualifying, and now the long road to the international event lies before her.

“This is the first time I’ve won my age group, and I’ve been doing triathlons for around five years now – it feels good,” Hockley said. “This is the third time that I’ve entered the Port Macquarie event and it’s pretty rewarding to get this result considering I’ve been working for that half of a decade.”

“I’m pretty stoked for a result. I’m in a recovery phase now, but around mid-August the qualification is going to lead me into anything up to 25 hours of training a week.”

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Hockley also took time after the victory to look back at her 2017 performance at the championships in Hawaii, her seventh placed finish, and what lies ahead.

“I know what it’s all about now, I know what needs to be done to race really well and I’m really excited this time around,” she revealed.

“My goal this year is to win the whole event, but if I just improve on last year’s result that okay too – that will be my ‘B goal’ if the first plan doesn’t pan out.”

The victory in Port Macquarie, and qualification to the global stage once more, also comes at a time when Hockley is preparing to take a massive next step in her triathlon and Ironman career – she is moving to secure her professional licence.

“I got a couple of good results this year, and a half Ironman result earlier in the year earned me my qualification for a professional licence,” she said.

“The event over in Hawaii is really my last race as an amateur in the scene.”

“It’s going to be a new challenge for me. After these past few results I’m well and truly ready to go to the next level, there’s going to be a lot coming up next because of that.”

The Hawaii championships will be held in October of this year. To follow along with Hockley’s preparation and journey into her final amateur competition, head to krystlehockley.com/blog.