IT was her first triathlon in 11 months, but when Emily Watts tackled the second round of the Central West Inter Club Triathlon Series in Bathurst on Sunday it was if she had been competing all along.
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Watts took out the fastest female honours as she blazed through the 2.5 kilometre run, 200 metres swim, 16km cycle, 200m swim, 2.5km run course in 55 minutes, 41 seconds.
She finished more than two minutes clear of runner-up Hollee Simons (57:56), a Bathurst competitor who has been in hot form this season. Third belonged to Orange's Abby Dean (59:02).
While Watts had previously taken out fastest female honours at Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club races and last February won her age group NSW All Schools Triathlon, another sport is now her focus.
She is currently three months into her road cycling comeback following a training crash last year which left her in a neck and back brace for two-and-a-half months.
It meant Watts was just as pleased to finish Sunday's race without pain - other than the usual fatigue - as she was with the victory.
"I was really surprised, I thought my collarbone might muck up in the second swim or run, but I was really surprised as there was nothing, so that's a win for me really," Watts enthused.
"I always try to come out here for the Australia Day tri because there is such good support at this club, and I just love a good triathlon.
"To see how many women are out here is great, older women, older men. Everyone is cheering along the run course, high-fives all-round, it's brilliant."
Watts established an early lead over a big field of 45 rivals, clocking a 9:58 run split to hold a 44 seconds advantage over Simons heading into the first swim.
While Simons was five seconds quicker than Watts in that swim, and impressively 20 seconds quicker in the cycle, the Lithgow talent finished strongly to take the honours.
"I was watching for her [Simons] in the bike because I know she's a pretty good bike rider. When I saw her in the run she was powering on too, but I thought I had enough," Watts said.
"I didn't feel so good in the water, just with not being in the water much lately, I've probably only done 400 metres worth of swimming in the last two weeks or so.
"The run was just my long legs, I come from a running background, so it just comes naturally. I come from Little Athletics, so my legs were ready to run."
Watts' focus is now on training for the upcoming Cycling Australia National Road Series where she will ride for her new team Subaru Giant.
"We are going along really well, we've got a team camp in about two weeks," she said.
"We thought the boys and girls combination wouldn't work that well, but we've seen at nationals it does work. The boys were able to support the women in the feed zone, they we were able to do the same after our race.
"Whenever the boys get a win, the girls feels like it's us getting the win - it's the whole team thing."
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