Dr. James Oury has been competing in triathlons for nearly 25 years. The 71-year-old cardiac surgeon will take part in the International Triathlon Union World Championships on Sunday.

Oury has competed in everything from short-sprint triathlons, like the one in Rapid City, to the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, but this will be the first time he has competed in the world championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

"I qualified because they take the top 15 in each age group at the national championships that were held in Oregon last year, and I finished in the top 10," Oury said.

Oury is now part of the American team that will compete among 2,000 triathletes from 42 different countries. Oury said he hopes to be competitive in his 70- to 74-year-old division.

"I never thought about doing this one, but my son kept telling me I could do it," he said. "Now, I just don't want to embarrass him."

The chances of that are fairly slim, considering Oury has extra motivation. His older brother Robert, 72, and son Jeremy, 45, both qualified for the race and will compete with him.

"I want to beat my brother, and I don't want to be last," he said of his goals.

The world championship triathlon is Olympic distance with a 1-mile swim followed by a 25-mile bike ride and finally a 10K run. Oury said he expects to finish somewhere around the three-hour mark, while his son, who he described as close to elite, would come to the line in just over two hours.

"It is just fun to see these elite athletes perform because you are on the same course, so you get a chance to see them," Oury said.

He came to triathlons with a running background, running in 30 marathons by the time he was in his mid-40s, but the strain on his body from simply running made him decide to go in a different direction.

"Triathlons were getting popular, and you could tell they made better athletes because they were working their upper body, legs and mid-body," he said. "So I made the transition."

Oury has now taken part in more than 100 triathlons of varying lengths, having failed to finish only his first triathlon.

"The only one I didn't finish was the first one," he said. "I was a terrible swimmer, and I got out there and just wasn't going anywhere. I swam over to a canoe and told them to take me in. I finished the bike and run, but I got a (did not finish.)"

His next marathon was the grueling Ironman in Hawaii, which he finished after taking a year's worth of swimming lessons.

On top of still performing surgery in Rapid City, Oury works out daily and focuses on resistance weight training three times a week, which he credits for keeping him virtually injury free and healthy.

His health and career were in jeopardy in 1999, when he was involved in a horse wreck that left him without full use of his left hand and arm. He was only able to assist on surgeries for the next four years, but through rehab, regained full use of his arm by 2004.

He continues to work full time, raise horses on his ranch and compete in a couple of triathlons a year.

"You have to have your comfort zone, and mine is in the operating room and competing on horses and in triathlons," he said.