STOURPORT doctor Rachel Ward will once again swap the surgery for international action at the World Championships in Beijing in September.

The super-fit 52-year-old has been selected to represent Great Britain in her third successive world age-group event, having finished 12th at Vancouver in 2009 and eighth on Australia’s Gold Coast last year.

Dr Ward has also competed for her country in successive European Championships at Athlone in Ireland last year and at Pontevedra in Spain earlier this summer.

She has finished in the top 10 in all her previous major events.

The 2011 World Championships are to be staged in the Chinese capital of Beijing on the weekend of September 10 and 11, when Dr Ward will tackle the three-discipline format of swim, bike ride and run in the 50 to 55 age category. In April this year, she collected her fifth Flora London Marathon medal – having raised a total of more than £8,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre.

“Fitting in the training around my career as a full-time GP has always been a challenge, but being a member of the Amazing Feet running club and the Wyre Forest Hash House Harriers in Kidderminster certainly helps. I also train with the Worcester Triathlon Club," commented the doctor.

“We have to pay our own way to the world event in Beijing but this year I have been fortunate to be given sponsorship from Aztec Label, a firm based in Hartlebury near