Ian Osborne has qualified for October’s Ironman World Championships in Hawaii after smashing his personal best.

The Oxford Tri member broke the coveted ten-hour barrier for the first time at Ironman Australia to qualify in the 40-44 years category.

Osborne clocked 9hrs 55mins 6secs for the 2.4 mile swin, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run event in Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

His time was almost 90 minutes faster than his previous best and included split times of 58 mins (swim), 5.12 (bike) and 3.42 (run).

Osborne said: “I was nursing a foot injury, so I wasn’t 100 per cent.

“My training was good and it all came together.

“It was pretty poor weather, which was unusual for Australia.”

Osborne’s next big target is the UK Half Ironman in June.

Meanwhile Oxford Tri’s Jim McConnell finished an impressive second in the Xterra Guam – an off-road triathlon.

McConnell completed the 1km swim, 31km mountain bike and 8.2km trail run in 2.25.34.

His splits were 17.48, 1.22.55 and 44.51.

Julien Lhomme, another Oxford Tri member, finished seventh in the British Duathlon Championships in Emberton, Bucks.

Lhomme completed the 10km run, 40km bike and 5km run course in 1.55.17.