White returns home to stamp her class at Ganmain Triathlon | Photos

The 22-year-old not only claimed the women's crown in the first leg of the Riverina Tri Series, but finished second overall to dominant series athlete Jesse Featonby.

Albury-based Featonby, who won all four races in the series last year, completed the 1km run, 20km cycle, 150m swim, 5km run circuit in just under an hour (59.32), with White next (1:03.00) and Wagga's Jeremy Kimpton third (1:04.33).

White estimates she completed the Ganmain Triathlon as a child about a decade ago. She began training with a NSW Institute of Sport-Triathlon Australia squad in Narrabeen at the start of this year, and will compete in the World University Cross Country Games at Portugal next month.

She has a strong swimming background as a youngster through Wagga Swim Club, and has focused on long distance running in recent year.

"I've mainly been doing running but I did a lot of swimming growing up, and cycling came easy because of the aerobic base of running," White said.

"The training hours are a lot, about 25 hours a week but coming home to Wagga the training here is almost better than Sydney.

"There's so many people to train with, I've been training with (elite triathletes) Brad and Radka Kahlefeldt, which is pretty cool."

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White hopes to develop enough to have a shot at making the Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028, or Brisbane 2032.

"My goal is the Olympic distance triathlon and competing at the Olympics," she said.

"The average age for the female podium for the Olympics was about 30 and I'm 22. It would be pretty cool to even compete in LA, that would be great."

Canberra-based Llewellyn Angharad, who has represented New Zealand at the elite level, was the second female to finish (1:08.14).

Featonby said the windy conditions were challenging, particularly on the cycle leg.

"I found it really hard, a lot of the competitors would have had a tough day battling that on the way back in," he said.

"I started off taking charge in the first run, then onto the bike in the lead and continued to build from there."

"The time wasn't as quick as last year but I think the conditions played a part in that."

Featonby expects to be tested a bit more when the series moves to The Rock on March 6.

"There was a race in Albury this weekend as well so I'm sure there'll be otherz racing in the other races in the series," he said.

"There was still a lot of people there, they said it was the biggest turnout they've had. It's good to see that for the first event of the series."

Organisers said 111 athletes entered for the open races, well up on last year.

MEN

First Jesse Featonby 59:32, second Jeremy Kimpton (1:04.33), third Dan Judd (1:06.53)

WOMEN

First Annabel White (1:03.00), second Llewellyn Angharad (1:08.14), third Kelsey Tobin (1:11.47)

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