IT’S probably pretty safe to say Orange triathlete Jess Richards has never been compared to a bottle of 2001 Parusso Barolo Bussia, but like the Italian red, she keeps getting better with every year that passes.

Richards is commonly acknowledged as one of the strongest female triathletes in the country, and she proved as much in Sunday’s Ironman Port Macquarie, surpassing even her own lofty standards, and previous results.

The 33-year-old eclipsed her overall time, two of her discipline times, her division rank, gender rank and overall rank from last year.

“I’m absolutely stoked (with those results),” she said.

“It’s always a goal to beat your previous times, and it’s pretty special to have clocked the times I did.”

The Orange Cycle and Triathlon Club star clocked 10.04.02 overall, a full 13 minutes faster than her 2014 time, to finish first of 41 in her female 30-34 division, fifth of 291 in her gender, and 80th of 1650 overall.

In 2014 she finished third in her division, eighth in her gender and 138th overall.

Making her finish even more astounding, the four who ranked higher than Richards in her gender are all professionals. So are Caroline Gregory and Shell Wu, both of whom Richards beat.

After coming out of the 3.8km swim leg in 1.03.22, sitting 19th in her division, Richards clocked 5.11.05 in the 180km cycle leg - her speciality - and then ran the 42km final leg in 3.42.38.

Nine other OCTC members also competed at the Ironman Port Macquarie, with Kim Dale (11.21.50), Steve Robinson (12.26.29), Michael Lockyer (11.56.18), Paul Johnston (12.05.30), Nick Commins (12.43.59), Anthony Cook (13.09.39), Andrew Commins (13.01.38) and Simon Lun (14.01.16) all performing with aplomb.

Fellow Orange triathlete Janelle Petrie was unfortunately unable to complete the race. 

“It really does make all the hard work worth it,” Richards said. 

“(Orange’s other competitors) were all so excited, which was great to see and to see my favourite training buddy, Kim Dale, do so well coming back from injury was very special as well.”