THIS weekend, mother of two Lysa Fairhurst flies out to Austria as she prepares to cap her first full triathlon campaign in style.

Fairhurst, who is a teacher at the Corsham School, jets off to Austria on Saturday and seven days later, she will be completing a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, 13.1-mile run as she competes at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Zell am See-Kaprun.

The Hot Chilli triathlon club member, 44, earned her berth at one of the world’s most gruelling half-ironman championships by finishing with a time of six hours and 13 minutes in the 40-44 age group at the UK 70.3 Ironman at Wimbleball Lake, Exmoor, in June.

And Fairhurst says she’s raring to make her mark on the international stage after such a short time in the sport.

“I considered myself to be a reasonably fit person and I was initially inspired by a fellow teacher at Corsham School, who competed in full-distance Ironman events,” said Fairhurst, who is coached by Richard Smith.

“After researching the half-iron distance events, I reckoned that I was probably only going to do one, so I had better make it a good one. I didn’t realise that the Exmoor 70.3 is the toughest in Europe.

“Qualifying for the world championships was always an outside chance and I only stayed on for the awards ceremony because a fellow Chilli said: ‘you’ve got a good chance of qualifying - how gutted would you be if you went home and they called your name?’ How right he was.

“Since I have been on holidays, the training volume has increased and I’m feeling really strong and confident that I can reach my full potential.

“It would be lovely to rank in the top 25 per cent of my age group, but there will be a lot of amazing athletes there on race day, so all I can do is focus on my race and nail it.”