A FRANKSTON athlete is set to take his talents to France to compete in the 2025 Ironman World Championships.
27-year-old Zach Andrewartha competed in New Zealand earlier this year, earning Gold All World Athlete status and a place at the world championships. He first began serious training for endurance sports less than six months earlier.
Andrewartha says qualifying to compete in France came as a surprise – he finished eighth during the world championship qualifiers, with the top eight going through. He says the trip will help him fulfill a childhood dream. “I watched the Tour de France with my Dad growing up, and I always wanted to ride bikes up the French hills,” he said. “I’m passionate about doing mountains, so I’m feeling very good.”
Before his quick rise in endurance sports, Andrewartha has been a familiar face in the local footy scene. He has played for the Langwarrin Football Netball Club for more than a decade, and played one VFL season with Casey Demons. “I started out playing footy pursuing an AFL career, and only towards the last couple years had I started to dabble in half Ironmans. But I could only put in a little bit of preparation because of footy,” he said. “It got to the point where I wanted to see how far I can take it, so I did a few events. I enjoyed it – I wasn’t destroying it but it was pretty enjoyable.”
Andrewartha soon went all-in on endurance sports. He keeps up an intense training schedule to improve his fitness and conditioning. “I do between 20 and 25 hours of training a week. I’m really focusing on running and biking, and because swimming is more technical I’ll focus on that during the last six weeks. I’m doing a four kilometre swim a week, my running is 100 kilometres a week, and biking is 200 kilometres to 300 kilometres,” he said.
Andrewathra is hoping to focus on HYROX training in the years to come. In the meantime, he is planning on taking part in the Great Ocean Road, Gold Coast, Sydney, and Melbourne marathons.
The Ironman World Championships begin on 14 September in Nice, France.
First published in the Frankston Times – 4 June 2025