But the Beresford family, who hail Nowra Hill, have just returned from the 2018 Track and Field Canada Tour, where all four members – Mason, Jayla, Alissa and Paul – have shone in Australian colours.

This year marked the second straight year Mason, 15, has competed in Canada – qualifying on the back of his strong showing at the NSW State Athletics Titles.

“This year I claimed bronze in the triple jump – I’m over the moon to come home with an international medal,” Mason said.

“I also got fifth in discus, throwing 28.87m and fifth in javelin, with 24.90m – but my long jump didn’t come together for me.

The Nowra Christian School student, who enjoyed this year’s event more than the previous one, achieved all this despite battling Crohn's Disease.

“It [Crohn’s Disease] is under control for now – I still have to take my medicine twice a day, a long with some tablets from my naturopath,” he said.

“I also do regular exercise and training to keep myself fit and healthy and I have regular checkups with my specialist and paediatrician.

“I do suffer from sore joints due to all the inflammation in my body but my coaches are very understanding.”

His sister Jayla, 12, who was also invited to compete in Canada after competing at the state titles, claimed three international medals at this year’s event.

“I was really happy with my results – getting second in the discus (21m), third in the javelin (19.72m) and third with a 3kg shot put, throwing 6.20m.

“Overall, it was great to have the opportunity to complete internationally again.”

After watching their children compete last year, parents Alissa and Paul decided to take part in this year’s competition.

“We both started competing a year ago, after standing around watching our kids getting coached,” Alissa said.

“So we decided to join in, as we thought it would be pretty cool to compete internationally.”

During the meet, despite recovering from a broken foot, Alissa broke four records in her 40-44 age group, on her way to claiming four gold medals.

“Due to my foot injury, I had to take a break from sprinting and decided to do some throwing,” she said.

“So I entered in discus, hammer throw, javelin and shot out, finishing first in all four of them – which was amazing.”

Not to be outdone, Paul had a very busy schedule too, competing in seven events.

He claimed first in the javelin, long jump and triple jump, as well as second in shot put and the 200m, third in discus and fifth in hammer throw.

“It was an amazing memory that we will have forever,” Alissa said.

The children are now preparing for the CSSA State Athletics Titles.