Slater put the result down to a good summer of training, which saw her beat her coach Jacqui Allen by 2 minutes and 10 seconds across the course in Taiwan's Kenting National Park on Saturday, March 30.

Slater posted a time of 3 hours 3 minutes and 12 seconds in Taiwan.

Slater said the New Zealand course in Rotorua, which she would tackle on Saturday on the xterra Asia-Pacific tour, saw competitors ride some of the world's best mountain bike trails and swim through a crystal blue lake.

"I raced here the last two years, so I'd say it's probably one of my favourites," Slater said, speaking from New Zealand on Friday.

Slater has previously considered switching to road triathlon events, which have more funding available in Australia, but after the win last weekend she intends to stick with her current schedule.

"I'll probably stay doing the off road triathlon for a bit longer, definitely for this year, and then next year I'll probably start transitioning maybe into a bit more road triathlon.

"But at the moment I'm really obviously loving doing the off road stuff, and I've kind of already got my year planned out with the season of mainly doing cross triathlon," Slater said.

Slater said she was lucky with events held in the southern hemisphere, making it easier for her to adapt to the heat than some of her European arrivals, who fly in from the depths of winter.

But Slater will face a new challenge later this year when she tackles a triathlon 2000 metres above sea level in China.

"I'm interested to see how I will go there, but that's definitely going to be a big challenge, I think," she said.

Slater manages to juggle international competitions and studying at the University of Canberra, where she's training to become a PE teacher.

"I just have to try and make sure I get all of my assessments and stuff done so I can focus on racing while I'm away. Uni are really good with giving me a bit of leeway for assignments," she said.

When Slater gets back from a trip to Spain later in the year, she'll head straight into a four-week teaching placement before jetting off again for another competition.

"It's kind of nice to do uni and have something else to think about other than just racing all the time," she said.