ALBURY para-triathlete and elite athlete Justin Godfrey has returned with silverware from Chicago.
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Godfrey competed in the Chicago World Para Triathlon Grand Final Championships and brought home a bronze medal last month.
The last three years have been a tough ask, but Godfrey said he was not backing down despite the category being not listed for the 2016 Rio de Janiero Paralympic Games.
“Because I’m not in a Rio category I still need to keep my points and world ranking … I’m going to try cross-triathlon because I love mountain biking.”
Godfrey’s race in Chicago was a comeback effort, after he took a tumble during the race.
“When I started the bike ride I was second, but crashed and slid on a corner in the second lap,” he said.
“I picked myself up pretty quickly and could see the guys in front of me at the next corner.”
Godfrey said the adrenaline kicked in to help him get over the line.
“I said to myself, ‘I still have this’, and then rode past a couple of competitors to get the bronze (medal),” he said.
“You sacrifice family and life to get these things and give it your all on the day, and I know I did.”
Godfrey, a below-the-knee amputee, had major surgery last November which proved challenging.
“Running, riding and swimming take it out of your lower legs,” he said.
“The surgeons had to take tissue from my good leg and place it on my stump because it was breaking down too much.”
Godfrey said 2015 was all about recovery.
“I wanted to get back to competing at my best, I achieved a personal best on all my times to get back to what I was,” he said.
To be classified as an elite athlete Godfrey had to achieve set times in different races to be selected by Triathlon Australia.
“I’m fifth in the world and have had to build points in races,” he said.
Godfrey said the training in the lead-up to the event threw him a few curveballs.
“It was our winter here at the time, so I went from the indoor pools in Albury-Wodonga to open water,” he said.
“It was a bit daunting when I first got there.”
Godfrey said the cross-triathlon events were a new challenge he looked forward to.
“In cross-country it is a 13 to 15-kilometre bike ride, in a normal triathlon we do 20,” he said.
“I tried one last year and it was tricky, but I’ve always loved mountain biking.
“You get to do a sport you love while running and riding in the bush, (it’s) a whole different type of atmosphere.”
Godfrey hopes the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics may give him a chance to compete in his current PT3 category.
