TRIATHLON: The Maranoa's fittest athletes took part in the recent Hell of the West competition in Goondiwindi over the weekend, overcoming tricky condition in a notoriously difficult race.

The event is often billed as one of the toughest triathlons in Australia and the 27th edition proved no different as seven members of the Maranoa Triathlon and Multisport Club combined to enter three teams.

Competitor Mick Gray said that the triathlon posed fewer questions of athletes than in years gone by but still threw up its fair share of challenges.

"Over the last few years, the race has been finishing in the high 30s or low 40s and this year's was a little less than that, but the 40km return leg of the cycling course was pushing straight into a fierce headwind which made things very uncomfortable and annoying,” he said.

"It's a much longer course than your typical regional triathlon.”

The course starts with a 2km swim, before competitors hop on a bike and ride 80km, which then transitions into a 20km run to finish.

The Maranoa Triathlon and Multisport Club introduced three new competitors to the gruelling triathlon.

"It's always good to have new participation and to give them a taste of an exceptionally difficult event and they've already talked about coming back and giving it another go,” Mick said. "Although we had no individual competitors this year due to club members having work commitments, it was still a great turnout.

"We've always had strong co-operation between the various triathlon clubs in the region such as Goondiwindi, St George, Dalby and Toowoomba, and competing at these events encourages return participation.

"We're hoping to get quite a few competitors from across the southwest to compete at the Roma leg of the Peartland five-race series.”