CHLOE Hamblin was the perennial bridesmaid during last year's Riverina Tri Series, but also ended up being the bride.
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Four consecutive second placings was enough to secure the overall series title last year by a point over Claudia Taylor.
Taylor won the first three races, but relinquished the title by finishing out of the points at Holbrook before the final race at West Wyalong was cancelled.
Hamblin will look to go one better at her home event at Ganmain this Sunday, which kicks off the four-race series, but isn't as confident of her chances this time.
"I haven't been training quite as hard as last year, but that's OK," the 20-year-old said.
"Last year would have come down to the last race at West Wyalong and (even though I won overall) I wish it did, it would have been good to get that end result.
"It did rob us of having a celebration, not knowing you'd won the series at the time, and you couldn't cheer anyone else on.
The open event at Ganmain will be held over a 1km run-20km cycle-150m swim-5km run format, with junior and beginner races to run beforehand.
The second race at The Rock won't be held until four weeks later.
"Being a local it always puts pressure on to do well, but it's hard because we have a few weeks off after the race so there'll be a fair bit of training going on before the second race," she said.
"The weather should be great, not too hot and the rain should be gone by then so it should be a good turnout.
"My sister Abbey is now 16 so she's stepping up to the open races. Neither of us have really done much (training) so we're nervous to compete against each other."
Defending men's champion Scott Donaldson expects the young brigade like 2020 runner-up Liam Wilcox and Luke Mazzocchi and Jackson Tenhave to be even stiffer opposition with an extra 12 months of improvement.
Several athletes will also use the event as preparation for the Port Macquarie Ironman 70.3, which has been delayed until early May.
"I really expect some of those young guys to really step it up again this year," Donaldson said.
"They were pretty strong last year and another 12 months of improvement is always big at that age.
"You definitely want to be pushed at these races, and especially when you haven't really raced at all for some time."
About $2000 worth of prizemoney is on offer during the series, with Sunday's open race to get underway around 9.30am.
The Temora Triathlon won't be part of this year's schedule after the event was unable to form a committee.
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