Lauren Parker will be gunning for a fifth straight home-town victory when she lines up as race favourite in the women's Oceania Paratriathlon at Stockton on Sunday.
The event kick-starts a busy 18 months for the Chisholm 34-year-old, who is aiming for paratriathlon gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
It will be Parker's first race since securing a third sprint distance world title in Abu Dhabi last November.
The world championship capped an all-conquering year for the Novocastrian, who was paralysed from the waist down in a freak training accident almost six years ago.
She won seven from seven races in 2022, including two ironman distance victories in what Parker described as a challenging 12 months.
"Last year was massive," Parker said.
"I had all of my sprint distance stuff plus two ironman races, which was my first full ironman races back since before my accident, so that was really good but really tough as well.
"But doing those ironman distance races made me stronger mentally leading into the next 18 months towards Paris. I feel like I'm stronger as an athlete, and I grew as a person last year."
Parker took a five-week break after her world title win in November and is keen to be back racing this weekend.
"I'm not fully fit for this weekend but you can't be at the top of your game all year round so I'm looking forward to the first race back," Parker said.
"It was my first break in a while. I don't do well on breaks, so I struggled with it a little bit but it was still nice and I made the most of it."
Parker is unbeaten in the Newcastle race since it began in 2019 but the Paralympic silver medallist from Tokyo will be taking nothing for granted in a field including experienced compatriots Emily Tapp and Sara Tait.
"You always go into the first race a bit anxious because you don't know where your competitors are at, but even though I'm not fully fit I still feel strong and confident going into this weekend," Parker said.
"I love Newcastle and racing with my home crowd. It will the fifth year and it's so good every year that we've got the support from H Events putting the event together."
The race, at 9am, comprises a 750-metre swim in Newcastle harbour, 20-kilometre cycle and 5km run and is part of the Island Triathlon Festival.
Merewether's Ben Maunder and Glen Martin's Emily Fortunaso-Klocker should set the pace in the Island Standard Triathlon (6.30am) of 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.
There is also the 7km Stockton Sunset run on Friday and an aquathon (750m swim, 5km run) on Saturday.
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