Sport, Health & Wellbeing
So you think you have a busy life?
Meet UC student and the Cross Triathlon under 23 years World Champion, Penny Slater.
A 5am alarm is seen by most as inconvenient and irritating and something that has to be suffered only every now and again. But for elite triathlete, Penny Slater, it is very much an omnipresent part of her daily life. It’s her reminder to get on the way to an early morning swim session.
What follows is exhausting. Swim training is followed by a session of running or cycling, then it’s off to UC where she is studying Secondary Education – Health and Science. This is followed by another training session, dinner, study and sleep.
This daily routine is only interrupted by competitions, exams, teaching placements or working two jobs at the Bungendore Country Butchery and Queanbeyan High School.
Unexpected breaks do occur, and last year Penny sustained injuries from crashes in competition. Somehow though, she bounces back into the routine of training, study and work. Alongside this are the actual triathlon events, which are gruelling enough, with a 1.5-kilometre swim, a 30-kilometre cross-country mountain bike ride, followed by a 10-kilometre trail run.
This is a glimpse into the life of an elite athlete engaged in full-time study.
Penny is world class in the sport of Cross Triathlon, having won the under 23 years World Title two times. She has now set her sights on the major elite crown in Hawaii later this year.
More often than not, her ability to compete in the major races overseas doesn’t come down to form alone, but it is as much to do with her ability to afford to travel to events. As Penny reflects, “I was living from race to race. If I got prize money from one event, I could compete in the next”.
To a certain degree that is now in the past with Penny one of ten elite athletes at UC to secure a $10,000 sport scholarship from the Eldon and Anne Foote Scholarship fund for elite athletes.
For Penny it has fuelled her desire to become a world champion.
“I am now able to compete in all the races. I can allocate some months to training and competing without having to work to earn money to make the competitions.”
To secure the scholarship, Penny had to satisfy certain criteria including working in the community. She says, “I helped coach the Billy’s Triathlon Club development program, and I regularly give talks at UC and schools about my experiences. I also like to help out at ACT Triathlon events”.
Financially it is a tough sport if you want to compete against the world’s best on a regular basis, hence the boost this scholarship gives to her chances of achieving her goals, which are lofty.
Sponsorship has been hard to come by in her chosen sport, with the majority of major events staged overseas. Not that it was much different when she competed for Australia in horse riding or represented the ACT in the under 21’s hockey at the national titles.
University life, it would appear, provides the perfect balance – not only for the present in an all-consuming sport, but also for life after elite sport. Penny acknowledges the importance of this balance; “I see so many athletes get injured or retire and they have nothing to go to, that’s why study is important”.
Penny’s career choice upon graduation should come as no surprise. Her father Chris is a retired teacher, her mother Robyn is still teaching and Penny’s two sisters are both teachers. She says as soon as she started working alongside her mother at Queanbeyan High she realised it was what she wanted to do.
“I am really passionate about helping our youth get healthy and being a teacher is a way of helping create a healthier generation.”
At the moment Penny is inspiring the next generation through her sporting prowess, and her ability to maintain a disciplined and focused approach to all aspects of her life.