A HEREFORD academic represented Great Britain for the first time in an international triathlon event.

Liz Davies-Ward, who works at the University of Worcester, swam 1.9km in a lake before cycling 90km and running 21km in the 2016 Walshee ETU Challenge Middle Distance Triathlon European Championships in Austria, finishing 27th in her age category.

She completed the swim in 41 minutes, the cycle ride in three hours eight minutes and nine seconds and the run in 2:14.37.

“The race was fantastic,” said Davies-Ward.

“The opportunity to swim, bike and run in the most beautiful location made things more bearable.

"The swim was straight forward but the bike was more technical than expected.

"There was plenty of opportunity to pick up time on the amazing down hills but the slog up the four hills required a focus and perseverance.

“The run involved four laps of the lake with some gradual inclines.

"The weather was glorious but not ideal for racing as it was so hot.

"I lost a little bit of time on the run because of the need to keep adequately hydrated.

"I was very pleased with my overall time of six hours 10 minutes, although there's lots of lessons learnt, especially in transition.”

The mother-of-two was representing GB-Age Group in the 50 to 54 category, taking part alongside men and women in age groups from 18 to 70-year-olds.

Elite triathletes also competed, but Davies-Ward only fought against women in her age group.

She was one of 37 British men and women selected in the 50-54 age group and came 10th out of the 14 British women selected to compete for their country.

The registered nurse took up triathlon four years ago and is a member of Hereford Triathlon Club.

She qualified for the championships in August last year with a time of five hours 44 minutes at the Cotswold Classic Middle Distance Triathlon.

The 53-year-old, who trains around 13 hours a week, said: “I feel very proud to have represented GB.

"To be honest, I still haven’t taken it all in.

"The overall experience was incredible.

"I’ll be racing again soon at the New Forest Middle Distance with a view to qualifying again for the ETU European Middle Championships in Denmark 2017.

“After a short break I’ll be back to winter training; a swim, long winter rides, winter cross country/coastal path runs and strength and conditioning.”