Hercules Wimbledon’s Gina Galbraith is an advocate of the power of positive thinking, and it is no surprise after she qualified for the Duathlon World Championships at the first time of asking.

The 39-year-old will represent Great Britain in Spain this summer after a fine debut performance at the Bedford Autodrome Duathlon.

She finished 32nd out of more than 70 competitors and was sixth in the 40-44 age category, which proved sufficient to make the national team, clocking 18 minutes 41 seconds for the 5k run, 38:01 in the 20k bike ride and 10:59 in the 2.5k run for a combined 1.10:09, including transitions, about five minutes behind the event winner.

“Twelve years ago I studied hypnosis – not because I ever wanted to be a hypnotist, but because I’m fascinated by communication and was intrigued to learn more about the power of suggestion and sub-conscience,” she said.

“How small tweaks to the way in which we approach things, think about things or the language we use can have incredibly positive outcomes.

“You might be cynical about the ‘power of positive thinking’ but it’s hard to argue with the fact that achieving something is far easier and more likely if you approach it on the basis that you can succeed rather than you can’t or won’t.”

She added: “I decided that I really, really wanted to wear a Great Britain tri-suit with GALBRAITH across the back of it.

“So much so in fact that I wasn’t prepared to let any limiting beliefs about what I might achieve, given I had never done a duathlon in my life and I only started riding a road bike six weeks ago, get in the way of my personalised GBR tri-suit goal.”