Narooma triathlete Richard Jeffrey has a new piece of silverware to add to the collection.
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Jeffrey recently competed at the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Nice, France, and finished second in the 65-69 men's age group.
The IRONMAN 70.3 consists of a 1.9-kilometre swim, 90-kilometre cycle, and 21-kilometre run.
Jeffrey finished the race in an impressive time of five hours, 25 minutes, and five seconds.
He finished just a minute behind gold-medal winner Markus Jochum from Austria, and recorded the fastest run time by more than five minutes.
Switzerland's Enrico Monego finished in third place.
Jeffrey said the race was the culmination of months of training.
"The safest way to qualify for the World Championships is to win your home event," he said. "I won the Geelong event in February which gave me the right to sign up.
"These events take it out of you, so I wound down for about three to four weeks after Geelong, then slowly built back up again.
"My regime became three swims a week, five sessions of cycling a week, and three running sessions. I probably did 15 hours a week all up.
"It's extremely important at our age, because the body recovers a lot slower. I devoted as much time to resting, stretching and recovery so I could train properly in my next session."
Jeffrey went to France early to avoid the impact of jet lag.
"The race was in the south of France, so I flew in two weeks early and hired a car to drive into the Alps," he said. "I finished my training up there, then drove back down a few days before the race started.
"It was a bit of indulgence, but I thought I might as well have a bit of a holiday while I was there."
Jeffrey said there were moments when he thought a medal would be impossible.
"Most triathletes have stronger and weaker legs, which makes the sport interesting," he said. "I'm not traditionally a strong swimmer, so I give away a bit there, but my running gets me back.
"Usually I find myself trying to catch up after giving up time, and I nearly did it this year, but just missed out.
"I had a small problem on the bike when I started cramping after about 60 kilometres, and I had to stop and stretch it out.
"I thought my race was over then, but I just took it easy for a bit and the cramp went away. I lost a bit of time, but everything was fine with the body once the run started."
Jeffrey said he felt the effects of a long race towards the end.
"There was a lot of pain," he said. "One of my children came over from London to watch me, and he was able to track my progress after each lap of the run.
"I passed him four times, and each time he told me where I was in the race. He actually told me I was in the lead with two kilometres to go, but that didn't pan out."