The 49-year-old had hoped to represent Aotearoa in an international multisport event for years.
On Sunday he made that dream came true when he competed in the long distance triathlon, placing 17th in the 40-50 age group.
Wilkinson competed against hundreds of competitors in his division, which included the long distance triathlon (3km swim / 114km bike / 30km run) and the aquathlon last Friday, (2.5km run / 1km swim / 2.5km run).
"This was the first time officially representing New Zealand, so that was certainly on my bucket list," Wilkinson said.
"Being my first world championship event, I'm very grateful and humbled for the opportunity, but I'm very, very happy with being able to finish and finish well."
The school principal previously competed in the Oxman (long course triathlon) which qualified him to go to Townsville to compete in the multisport championship.
"Getting through the swim, bike and run was pretty good. I got through it so I'm pretty happy," he said.
The World Triathlon Multisport World Championships Townsville 2024 is a 12-day event with 19world championship races across five different levels of athletes, including age group, para triathletes, junior, under-23 and elites.
There were eight world championship events – duathlon sprint, duathlon standard, 2×2 mixed relay, cross triathlon, cross duathlon, aquathlon, long distance triathlon and aquabike.
Three thousand competitors representing over 40 countries took part in the event.
Wilkinson was one of three Southlanders representing New Zealand at the multisport championships.
"Trish Nicol and Chris Milne were there too," he said.
"We got to hang around with each other a little bit and cheer each other on, which was really neat and a really good family feel.
"The good thing is, out of all of New Zealand’s 200 athletes, only two athletes didn't finish an event.
"So we had a really, really high proportion of finishes, which means we all prepared well."
Wilkinson acknowledged the financial support he received from Community Trust South and Winton Lions Club.
"Lots of our Southlanders are weekend warriors, they’ve shown that they can achieve a bit of everything," Southland Triathlon and Multisport Club president Ginge Burnett said.
"I’m grateful that our athletes had the backing of ILT and Community Trust South."
