Ganmain triathlete Caleb Noble hopes to use his Australian Long Course Championship victory as a springboard to bigger and better things this year. Noble enjoyed one of his finest moments in triathlon with victory in the Australian Long Course Championship in Huskisson on Sunday, as part of the Husky Triathlon Festival. To make the win even sweeter, Noble virtually doubled his prizemoney by taking out the handicap event, as well as line honours. Noble finished the 1.9 kilometre swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run course in a time of three hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. The 26-year-old was stoked to secure the Australian title. "That was probably one of my breakthrough races, the Aussie champs, so I was pretty stoked with it to be honest," Noble said. "Last week I went to Geelong and did the half Ironman there and had a bit of a crook back coming off the bike there and finished 11th so I didn't have the best race there. "So backing up and doing halfs in two weeks, I wasn't sure about it and wasn't going to do it until a couple of days out. I thought I'll do the drive up, it's the Aussie Champs and I just felt good all day, I was really happy with it." It has been a tough couple of years for triathletes amid COVID-19 and Noble is no different. MORE SPORT NEWS He hopes the opening up of international borders will help with opportunities. "It was tough last year. We were pretty good, we had a few races here but we couldn't get overseas. Now things are opening up, I'll definitely try to plan something in Europe or America in the next couple of months and try to plan a few races," he said. "I'm still working part-time and doing nightfill because you can't quite get overseas and race where all the big coin is. We were lucky to get a few races in but you're there sort of racing, surviving for a week or two, then go again. Now with everything opening, it's definitely a good chance to get over there." Noble has been based at Noosa for the past few years and is focusing on the 70.3 Ironman circuit. "I've just been focusing on the 70.3 distance. The aim's obviously to qualify for the 70.3 worlds so I've just been focusing on that," he said. He hopes his win on the weekend can help launch him into a successful year. "This is a really good stepping stone. I know I can put a race together," he said. "Last year I was leading that same race with a couple of kilometres to go and got pinged at the end so I really wanted it on the weekend. "As I said, good stepping stone and hopefully now I can back it up into a few more races." Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
