28 | AustrAliAn triAthlete
annabel luxford
lucky or privileged. Bella learnt to earn her
‘gifts’ from a young age.
The Australian female fraternity of the
2000’s is legendary. Inspired by greats
such as Michellie Jones, Nicky Hackett and
Loretta Harrop, the ‘early 80s kids’ went
on to (and still do) frequent world
podiums time and time again. They
dominated ITU Triathlon and starred in a
‘golden era’ for Triathlon Australia. Emma
Snowsill, Liz Blatchford, Mirinda Carfrae,
Emma Moffatt and Annabel Luxford learnt
their trade together, yet were pitteddollars a week for about four hours
work that she paid me. I saved up that
money for about six months and then,
with a loan from her, I bought my first
carbon bike - a second hand one from
another athlete in the triathlon squad.”
I love this story. It paints a very real
picture and offers such insight into the
origins of successful sports people we too
easily label ‘talented’ or ‘gifted’ athletes- athletes that are eventually assimilated
into the AIS [Australian Institute of Sport]
blanket program and perhaps seen as
Between 2004 and 2007, Annabel
attained podiums at 18 World Cups
and finished fifth in Melbourne, at the
Commonwealth Games.
— Jodie CunnamaNot everyday stuff (not least of all
winning a full scholarship to university).
Bella is not intentionally indifferent, she
just seems very used to success. She speaks
of world titles as if they were school sports
colours, and university scholarships like
they are ‘a dime a dozen’. She is clearly a
very high achiever, maybe even a
perfectionist. Bella paints an intimate
picture of the resourcefulness and
determination that helped to shape her
beginnings in sport.
“When I was 16, I’d had enough of
riding a bad bike. My mum was a single
parent, teaching full time and raising
two girls - she couldn’t afford to buy
me a better bike. I asked her to get rid
of the cleaning and ironing lady, and
asked her if she could pay me to do
that work instead. I think it was thirty
L To R: Annabel Luxford, Peter Robertson,
emma snowsill and Brad kahlefeldt at the 2005
ITU Gamagori Triathlon World Championships.
© Spomedis/ITU MediaCeLeBRATIons: Ironman 70.3 Mandurah victory, 2014.