Africa Triathlon

With on year to go until the Adelaide 2015 ITU Duathlon World Championships, the local organising committee has announced that two time World Triathlon Champion and ITU Hall of Fame inductee Emma Carney will make a competitive return to the sport she dominated at the highest level throughout the 1990’s at the SCA Oceania & Australian Duathlon Championships on Sunday 19 October in Adelaide.

Carney is no stranger to the Duathlon format, having won silver at the 1999 World Championships.  On her return to duathlon Carney said “I am looking forward to participating in the national duathlon Championships, but I don’t expect that I’ll be super-competitive”.  However if she finishes in the top few places in her age group, she can secure a place in the Australian Age Group Duathlon team to compete at the Adelaide 2015 ITU Duathlon World Championships. 

Carney was forced into an early retirement from elite duathlon and triathlon competition in 2004 after suffering a cardiac arrest and being diagnosed with right ventricular cardiomyopathy.  As a result an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) was placed in the right ventricle of her heart.

Tenacious Carney’s return to Adelaide illustrates her determined attitude, which no-doubt contributed to her winning 12 straight ITU World Cups between 1995 and 1997.  Since having the ICD implant, doctors told her that she could not exercise at all, but Carney’s determination and competitive edge wasn’t going to deter her and now she is able to regularly train. 

Carney’s new focus is an online personal training platform where she shares her extensive knowledge in coaching, training and competition EmmaCarney.com This world-class training program assists triathletes and those who enjoy an active lifestyle.

The return is a timely one for Carney who last month was inducted as one of seven inaugural members of the International Triathlon Unions Hall of Fame, in conjunction with its 25 years celebrations held in Edmonton, Canada the location that ten years earlier Carney’s elite career came to an end due to cardiac arrest.