This Highlands lactic acid beating beast was up early next morning competing in another triathlon.

Graduating year 12 on Friday, October 16, Moss Vale High School student, Liam Hinchcliffe has had quite the week.

Having run six kilometres in 19 minutes and 28 seconds to be crowned the NSW Under 18 State Champion for Cross Country, then to graduate high school to begin your adult life is an intense time.

But, like his mental strength when running, Liam is ice-cool.

The NSW Under 18 State Champion competition was scheduled to be held a few months ago, but due to COVID the event was delayed.

Liam went into the race determined as ever.

"The course was pretty flat which doesn't suit me," Hinchcliffe said.

"I still managed to put in a good time and I was happy with it when I crossed the line.

"About one and a half kilometres out I wasn't dropping the racer behind me. As I got towards the end of the race I had about 20-30 metres on him.

"With 500 metres to go, I sort of knew I had the win as long as I didn't drop off the pace.

"When I crossed the line I was absolutely spent."

With COVID affecting sports all over the world, teams had the advantage with being able to stay in touch and encouraging each other to train. But, with athletics a lot of the time it's solo work.

Keeping fighting fit and not slacking off in down time is all down to the competitor and Liam nearly fell victim to that.

"I'm used to training on my own here in the Highlands," Hinchcliffe said.

"They called off every race when we went into lockdown.

"The lockdown didn't affect me to much, but my motivation was definitely tested. I just kept looking ahead, I knew events would be coming up and just continued to train hard.

"I love the feeling of running hard and getting results. I want to push myself to get the best result I can get. The competitive high is what I always look forward to."

After staying sharp and getting the wanted result, many could justify a good lay-down on the couch the next day.

Liam decided to get up and race in a triathlon.

"I was pretty tired," Hinchcliffe said.

"After that hard cross country race, I was completely spent and my legs were gone. But, I got home, had a solid meal, drank plenty of water and did my stretches.

"Next day my legs weren't 100 per cent, but I managed to pull away. Two races in two days was pretty good."

Like most athletes, the rest of 2020 is an unknown. With the potential for a COVID outbreak to happen, it's difficult to plan the next move.

But, Liam does have plans in the pipeline that begin almost immediately.

"First thing is to graduate from Moss Vale High tomorrow (October 16)," Hinchcliffe said.

"I don't have big races, just a few small events, but I'll be looking forward to NSW All Schools Athletics at the end of November.

"Each month there is a triathlon with the NSW Development Squad, so there's a lot of stuff to be looking forward to."

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