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Athlete barnstorms event

Taylar AmoniniNorth West Telegraph

Port Hedland’s star triathlete is celebrating his biggest win yet, coming first in his latest triathlon and beating countless professional athletes in the process

Advancing in each race over the past six months, Nathan Groch has gone from sixth place in December to coming first in the Port Macquarie Iron Man 30-34 age group and ninth place overall.

The normally tough Port Macquarie terrain turned even harder after Groch’s bike began to fall apart during the cycling leg, where he said at the 80km mark his handlebars began to come loose.

“When you descend a hill at something like 100km an hour not knowing if your handlebars are going to hang on, you just have to push through and not focus on it,” he said.

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And push he did — Groch finished the cycling leg to go on to experience, in his words, an indescribable feeling.

“To target and go for that one race specifically and execute and push through, it’s like nothing else,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a cliche but to have that many people cheer for you, see the finish line empty and announcers saying you’re the winner, I got goosebumps.

“Not many people get to say they won a race, won their age group outright and almost been outright amateur and to beat the pros.”

Doing it all from the Pilbara, Groch’s continued improvement will see him race in the Iron Man 70.3 in Indonesia, followed by the world championships.

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