They pushed their bodies to the limit to become world champions.

Ipswich Triathlon Club duo Ryan Ostler and Jayne Williams were age group winners at the ITU Duathlon World Championships in Ottawa, Canada, on Saturday.

Ostler completed the standard duathlon of 40km cycling and a total of 15km running over two sessions, in 1:55:24, to finish sixth in the overall men’s race and first in the 20-24 age group.

Williams, meanwhile, was 10th in the women’s race, which was enough to clinch the 40-44 age group.

Ostler said: “I can honestly say that I never feared anybody in the race as I picked off riders from my age group and others during the second half of the run.

“To actually become world champion is so surreal, to know you have beaten the best.”

Williams finished in 2:13:22, almost two minutes clear of her nearest age group challenger, the USA’s Lisa Buohler, while Ostler was over two minutes quicker than GB team-mate Anthony Meager.

“I figured a 35 minutes opening 10K would put me in the mix and knew from my training this summer that this was well within my capabilities,” Ostler added.

“Then it came down to making gains on the bike which is my stronger discipline before holding it together on the final run.”

Ostler, 23, runs competitively with Ipswich Jaffa, competes in cycling time trials with the triathlon club, and is keen to build on his world success.

“My ambition for the future will be to continue competing across all age groups at duathlon and triathlon,” he said.

“I am still relatively young to be competing in an endurance sport, so improvements can be made as I get older and with more hours of training and experience behind me.

Ostler added: “Myself and Jayne are both extremely pleased to have taken gold.

“We have both received such tremendous support from our friends at home and hopefully they are proud of us and to be associated with a world champion.

“Our friends, rivals and coaches have pushed us to become better athletes, while we should also thank our families for accepting our many training hours unquestionably.

“As close friends it is also a relief that we both took gold so that nobody feels inferior!”