Professional long-distance triathlete Regan Hollioake regaled the crowd with her story, taking up triathlon later in life and earning her professional licence.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
This year’s Sportstar Awards guest speaker Regan Hollioake had nuggets of valuable advice for the young sport stars that were in attendance at the awards night on Monday, March 3.
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Hollioake, a professional long-distance triathlete and part of the Ironman Pro Series, has dealt with her fair share of trials and tribulations throughout her career.
She spoke to attendees about her career experiences before taking part in a question and answer session.
Hollioake began by emphasising self-efficacy, as well as encouraging the sport stars to be kind to themselves and distancing their performance in sport from their identity.
“I try and not value my sense of self-worth on my ability as an athlete,” she said.
“It's a part of me, and it's a huge part of me and I give a lot of my life to it, but it doesn't determine my worth or who I am.”
Hollioake, who now lives in Nathalia after growing up in Ballarat, initially began as a teenage swimming sensation before she fell out of love with the sport.
Riverine Herald journalist Oliver Shedden conducted a Q&A with Hollioake after her talk.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
After some time away and watching a professional triathlon in person, an ever-competitive Hollioake’s passion was reignited, but this time it came with some extra skills.
“My motivation is just seeing how much I can get out of myself personally, regardless of what everyone else is doing,” she said.
“I just want to see where my potential is and do everything that I can to make sure that I reach that.”
After spending a few years as an amateur triathlete and winning the Echuca-Moama Tri Club’s multisport weekend multiple times, she officially turned pro just a year ago.
“The Echuca Moama Multisport Weekend is one of the best weekends of the year,” she said.
“The grassroots events, there used to be a lot around, but now it's really challenging to put on these events now.
“It's really costly and requires a lot of manpower and volunteers behind the scenes, and unless you have a really super network of people that are willing to devote months and months of time to getting these events off the ground, they don't happen.”
She has now won multiple Ironman events, including Ironman Australia and Ironman Maylasia in 2024 and Ironman New Zealand in 2025.
Her accomplishments as a triathlete in her 30s is a testament to belief, hard work and an unbreakable spirit and is a strong role model for all aspiring professional athletes.
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