Dr Judy Gebhart's Harmony Health is in Canberra, Bermagui

Dr Judy Gebhart, who competed in the 60-65 year age group, cut 19 minutes off her personal best time, put in the best performance of all Australian women in her age group and placed 351 overall across all female age groups in the championships

For context, almost 2200 athletes from 46 countries competed in the 2023 World Triathlon Age Group Championships in Pontevedra in September.

Dr Gebhart's achievement is even more remarkable because she only started competing in the endurance event in August 2022.

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Growing up in America, she was athletic, playing sports like basketball where sprinting was central.

Other than running a couple of races in her 30s, Dr Gebhart's life after moving to Canberra in 2008 was consumed by bringing up four children.

In 2016 though she took up running and entered a mini-triathlon.

There she got involved with a group of women triathletes.

Dr Gebhart trained with them but only for running until they encouraged her to enter an Olympic-distance triathlon in August 2022.

She went on to accumulate enough points in qualifying triathlon competitions around Australia and overseas to join the Australian team, including three of her friends, for the world championships.

In 2018 a Canberra friend moved to Bermagui.

Dr Gebhart and husband Michael Kennedy started visiting Bermagui.

Soon she was seeing patients who had been referred to her by a retired chiropractor.

"People said why don't you set up a practice here so we decided to turn it into a permanent thing," Dr Gebhart said.

Dr Gebhart only practices at Harmony Health in Bermagui on Saturdays as she has two other practices in Canberra.

She said it will be more frequent in the future as they build a practice with a few different allied health professionals, adding that after the Black Summer bushfires people really needed that healthcare.

"I just wish I had more time to come down because it is so needed," Dr Gebhart said.

Dr Gebhart's training included swimming at Horseshoe Bay, running to Camel Rock and back and cyclng along the Bermagui-Tathra Road.

Her husband was a professional tennis player and coach and helps immensely with motivation and alternative training methods.

Dr Gebhart has already qualified for the world duathlon in Australia next year.

"I was asking should I do it? Michael said he really wanted me to do it."

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