CRONULLA mother Mel Campbell was the first female across the line at the inaugural Red Bull Dune Dusters race on Sunday, December 14.
The 7 kilometre beach run challenged runners to race up and over some of the largest sand dunes in Australia at Stockton Beach near Port Stephens, NSW.
The mother of three, who had her last child only eight months ago, heard about the event only the Friday before the start, and registered online immediately.
"I was sitting at home feeding my eight-month old baby when I saw Courtney Atkinson [Olympic triathlete] on the TV talking about the race, so I jumped straight online and entered," she said.
Campbell, a member of Wanda Surf Life Saving Club, runs on the sand dunes there regularly: a regime that helped her not only win the race but finish in a time of 40.14 minutes.
"About 2 kilometres in I was wondering what I had gotten myself into," Campbell said.
Ali Najem of Cronulla finished second in the men's division and second overall.
