COVID-19 claims another iconic CQ festival

‘If there is a silver lining for us, it’s that we’ve got a headstart on the 2021 event.’

BRAKES ON: The sixth running of the Yeppoon Triathlon Festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Picture: Allan Reinikka.

TRIATHLON: COVID-19 has denied the Fitzroy Frogs the chance to deliver the Yeppoon Triathlon Festival for the first time.

The triathlon club was handed the reins in December by organisers Glenn Skinner and Rob Dendle.

The duo had for the past five years run the event, which attracts hundreds of athletes to the region.

Frogs president Craig McCormack said his club was excited to carry on the tradition of the iconic event and now bitterly disappointed not to get that chance on August 1 and 2.

“We were approached by the previous owners in November and the club decided in December we would take ownership of the festival,” he said.

“It was a very daunting opportunity for the club but the club has been a major supporter of the festival for the past two years, making sure it remained on the CQ calendar.

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“It was a logical transition for them to offer the festival to us.

“We had great plans in place, which included introducing an all-abilities and junior triathlon on the Saturday and an Olympic distance triathlon on the Sunday, but then along came COVID-19.

“We are now within three months of the date and based on the planning we’d done, we didn’t think we could do a major festival justice so made the decision to cancel.”

McCormack said postponing YTF was not feasible, given the back end of the triathlon calendar was already full.

He did, however, suggest that a “mini festival” was an option when the COVID-19 situation cleared.

“If there is a silver lining for us, it’s that we’ve got a headstart on the 2021 event,” McCormack said.

The cancellation of YTF means that the Frogs’ three major events for 2020 have been impacted.

The Rockhampton Triathlon (women’s only and junior event) which was to be on March 29 was postponed, so too the GKI Trail Run set down for June 14.

McCormack was hopeful those two events could be rescheduled later in the year, given they did not require the same amount of planning as YTF.