Noosa Triathlon Festival weekend events to go ahead

Get out your Speedos. Organisers have confirmed there will be an event held during the Noosa Triathlon Festival weekend in 2020.

Organisers have confirmed there will be an event held during the Noosa Triathlon Festival weekend in 2020. Photo Warren Lynam.

While it may not be to the same enormity Coast sporting fans have become accustomed to, organisers have confirmed there will be an event held during the Noosa Triathlon Festival weekend in 2020.

Noosa Tri Club president Tim Rook said regardless of the size, there will be some sort of event on the Noosa Triathlon and Multi Sports Festival weekend to commemorate the internationally-renowned event's 38-year history.

"I don't want to see the Noosa Tri weekend go by unmarked," Mr Rook said.

"It is the biggest event in the world for Noosa."

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This comes after a decision from Noosa Council earlier this month that all mass gatherings (over 500 people) in the region, including the Noosa Tri, would be cancelled until February 2021 due to COVID regulations.

Mr Rook was concerned if the festival was cancelled it would lose its relevance.

It attracts more than 13,000 competitors and 30,000 spectators to the Noosa region for the weekend.

"We just want to keep it alive to make sure it doesn't deteriorate for 2021," he said.

"If it is cancelled this year it impacts the following year - these events can disappear very quickly."

Council's decision to cancel the multi sports festival was made despite letters of support from several Noosa business groups, and a COVID-safe proposal submitted by event organisers IRONMAN - the same group who held IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast in Mooloolaba on September 13.

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Passionate Coast sporting identity, and one of the people responsible for the Noosa Tri's inception back in 1983, Benny Pike said as far as he was concerned the event was going ahead.

"It's a goer," he said.

Pike confirmed he had chatted with Mr Rook and they both conceded it would be a much smaller event than what is usually held, but it would be an event all the same.

"Let's not even call it an event, just a celebration," Pike said.

He pointed out many of the athletes who had booked accommodation for the multi sports weekend, from October 27-31, would still be coming to Noosa.

"There will be 'X' amount of people in the area over the five-day-period with nothing to do," Pike said.

"You've got to be able to do something."

Noosa Tri Club president Mr Rook said exactly what would be held was still in negotiation.

He was yet to officially discuss the proposal with IRONMAN, but he suggested a possible option was a social swim followed by a presentation with sporting greats and a look back at the Noosa Triathlon's almost 40-year history.

"We would like to get as many of the originals that started the triathlon down there," Mr Rook said.

"I have still got a couple of people to talk to today, this could end up bigger than what I initially envisaged."

As a business leader and committee member with Noosa Chamber of Commerce, Mr Rook advised he would be seeking the approval of Noosa Council before jumping too far ahead with event proceedings.