12:00a.m. 22nd August 2008

| By Grant Reynolds

Maureen Cummings is ready for this weekend's Noosa half-marathon. Photo: Barry Leddicoat/177799e

There’s only one way to learn how to ride a bike – fast.

At 27, Maureen Cummings swung a well-trained leg over a bike frame and turned her biathlon career into a triathlon career.

“I learned to ride fast pretty quickly,” she said.

“I used to get out of the water never more than fourth, then drop to 30th or 40th on the bike, then run myself up into the top five.”

Miss Cummings travelled the country from the mid ’80s competing in events, reaching a peak as an elite triathlon in the mid ’90s.

In 2000 she took out the world championships for the 35 to 39 years age group, a monumental feat for someone who for nearly two years could barely walk.

Miss Cummings, a school teacher, had been treated with radiation for Plantar warts inside her foot which resulted in swelling and pain so severe she couldn’t wear a sock, let alone a running shoe.

“I thought I wasn’t going to walk again – I couldn’t walk more than 10 metres,” she said.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for someone who had represented Australia at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990.

“It’s not until your whole life is taken away you can understand how people deal with blindness or being in a wheelchair,” she said.

“It was pretty horrible being told you’re going to end up in a wheelchair.”

Two years of treatment brought the pain under control and allowed her to contemplate taking up her beloved sport again.

She’s using this Sunday’s Scody Noosa 10km run – part of the Noosa Half Marathon – as a build up to hopefully re-claim her world title at the Gold Coast next year.

More than 3000 competitors are expected to line up in the Viridian Noosa Half Marathon, the Scody Noosa 10km run and the Beckmans Green Noosa 5km/run walk.

The 5km run is one the whole community, not just the athletes, can get involved in, with part of the entry fee donated toe the Cindy Mackenzie Breast Cancer Foundation.

EVENTS

Noosa Half Marathon

Distance: 21.1 km

Course: 2 lap totally flat course along the scenic Noosa Sound and Gympie Terrace with a police approved Traffic Management Plan in place.

Start Time: 6:30am

Scody Noosa 10km Run

Course: 1 lap totally flat course along the scenic Noosa Sound and Gympie Terrace with a police approved Traffic Management Plan in place.

Start Time: 8:05am

Beckmans Green Noosa 5km Run/Walk

Course: 1 lap scenic out and back along the Noosa Sound

Start Time: 8:30am

$5 from the entry fee will be donated to charity

Entries accepted at the venue but a late fee will apply.

For more information go to the website.