Bunbury triathlete Ryan Bailie wins the ticket to make it to the top
There was a 1.59 minute winning margin for Ryan Bailie as he made it first over the finishing line in the 2009 under 19 ITU Triathlon Age Group World Championship.
22 September 2009
It was a race that demonstrated Ryan's determination to make it to the top, an attribute recognised by the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) which has awarded the rising triathlete star three Healthway Smarter than Smoking (STS) Country Sport scholarships over recent years.
"We've watched Ryan develop into an athlete with the potential to achieve international success," DSR acting high performance consultant Samantha Shields said.
"He's a great example of a regional athlete aspiring to reach the pinnacle of his sport, an ambition made more difficult due to location and lack of access to high quality training needed to excel."
Ryan has also been recognised by the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS), which has offered the young triathlete a scholarship under the guidance of Triathlon Australia.
"It was pretty special to win the world champion age group and to then be accepted to NSWIS," Ryan Bailie said.
"It's really opened up a lot of doors in the sport to take me to the next level toward the under 23 junior elite level and to race professionally around Australia and in Europe over the Australian winter."
Ryan was one of 3,049 athletes from across the globe that descended on the Gold Coast, Queensland for the ITU Triathlon World Championships.
Athletes came from as far as Oman, Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan to take part in the five day event where the top age group competitors went head to head over both the sprint and standard distances.
"We thought (Ryan) would place, or at least come in the top five in the World Championships as he's at the top of his form in WA," Triathlon Western Australia executive officer Hayley Lethlean said.
"NSWIS have identified (Ryan) as an Olympic contender so they want to put a lot of time and resources into him, he's a high quality athlete and I'm quite confident in a high performance environment he'll definitely make it to the top."
As a STS Smoking scholarship recipient, Ryan participated in the Gifted Athlete Program (GAP), an initiative developed by DSR in partnership with the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) supporting aspiring athletes to learn life skills such as advanced sports nutrition, athlete leadership and drugs in sport.
Training four to five times a day while fitting in studies in physical education teaching and working in a bike shop, it will be a delicate balancing act to maintain stability between his elite sporting ambition and daily life - skills the Gifted Athlete Program has helped Ryan develop as he tackles life at NSWIS.
"You need a lot of dedication, you've got to want to make it to the top, I truly love (triathlon) and that's why I want to move to NSW to see how far I can go in the sport," Ryan said.
For more information on the Healthway Smarter than Smoking Country Sport Scholarship or the Gifted Athlete Program contact Samantha Shields.
Show more news
