Stand up paddle boarding may be a bit of fun for a lot of people - but for Penelope Strickland, it's a serious sport.
Strickland out-paddled 18 other women to win the 4km technical race at the World Championships in Fiji in November.
"It was a really amazing race and an awesome event to be a part of," said Strickland.
"My most vivid memory was the girl that was expected to win coming over to congratulate me - it was just a really lovely moment."
But it was a moment that almost didn't happen after the 38-year-old became ill a year ago.
"I kind of assumed that my stomach was growing because I was getting older and I wasn't eating well," she said.
"It turned out that I had a really large ovarian cyst. It had got so big at that stage they had to remove it by c-section, so this time last year I was just getting out of hospital learning to walk again.
"It was about 7 kilos, the size of a fairly decent med ball."
Doctors said while the cyst wasn't cancerous, it could have been the pre-cursor to something more serious.
After doing fantasticly well in 2016, Strickland has got big plans for 2017.
"I would like to go back and defend my title," she said.
"This year it's going to be Europe so very different racing - there's a lot happening, a lot to think about, and a lot to plan for."
And Strickland's certainly planning to make the most of every opportunity that comes her way.
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