Why every second counts as Lauren Parker eyes Paralympic gold in Paris

The memory of being pipped for Paralympic gold two-and-a-half years ago is driving the Newcastle 35-year-old as she eyes Paris, and a shot at redemption, in September.

Parker was only competing against herself as she claimed a sixth straight Oceania Paratriathlon title at Stockton on Sunday, but the home-town event proved the perfect first hit-out of the year.

"It was a chance to work on the little things, well the big things, like transitions," Parker told the Newcastle Herald post-race.

"It was really good for [handler] Dave Robertson and myself to get together again and practise those transitions and get them as quick as possible leading into a big year for Paris.

"Every second counts, as I found out at Tokyo, so I've changed a lot of things with my racing chair position and cut down some seconds.

"I used to put foam padding in between my knees and my chest and that took time. I've gotten rid of that, so there's three seconds just saved in that. Dave and I can definitely get quicker from here so it's really promising."

Parker, who was the only female competing in the PTWC classification on Sunday and finished the course in one hour, three minutes and 34 seconds, came painstakingly close to gold in Tokyo in 2021.

There, she led for most of the race before being run down to finish just one second behind winner Kendall Gretsch, of the United States.

This year, Parker is aiming to qualify for paracycling as well as paratriathlon.

"My next race is a cycling World Cup in Belgium, that's not until May," Parker said.

"Then the week after that I stop off in Japan for a paratriathlon World Series race in Yokohama."

Between now and then will be "a couple of big blocks of training".

"It will be really good to be home for a while and just sticking that consistency of training before some travelling and a big second half of the year," Parker said.

The Oceania Paratriathlon Championships, comprising a 750-metre harbour swim, 20-kilometre cycle and 5km run, were part of the three-day Island Triathlon Festival, which began with running events on Friday.

Over 800 competitors took part across the three days with event organiser Paul Humphreys saying numbers had doubled from last year.

Sydney's Josh Wooldridge won the standard triathlon - 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run - in 1:49.41, over 90 seconds clear of Maitland Triathlon Club's Cooper Lee (1:52.14) in second.

The Hills District's Sophie Malowiecki (1:59.45) won the women's standard race from Sydney's Rachael McCarthy (2:02.21) and Tomaree Triathlon Club's Courtney Wevers (2:04.43).