MARY JO DOWSETT
The first leg of the Queensland Triathlon Series takes place at Robina this Sunday and is expected to attract athletes of all ages and abilities.
The event, which has been running since 2012, will see professional athletes competing in Olympic distances, as well as children as young as seven competing in the Kool Kids triathlon.
The series is run by The Event Crew, and the company’s business development head, Sally Teiniker, said the event had broad appeal because it allowed anyone to compete, whether they were competitive or not.
“It’s a broad spectrum, we take kids from seven years old who are just doing something that is fun and active, right through to 85 plus, so there’s a whole mixture in there,” Ms Teiniker said.
“For some people they just dabble in the sport and they may try one or two of our events, and then some people compete in every single event,” she said.
The event offers four distances – Olympic, Sprint, Rackley Swimming Enticer and the Kool Kids – all of which can be entered into as either a team or as an individual competitor.
“You can do the event as a team, you don’t have to do everything yourself,” Ms Teiniker said.
“You can have one person swimming, one person riding, and one person running,” she said.
“There’s a tag area, so the swimmer comes out of the water, tags the bike rider and swaps the timing chip, and then the bike rider does the ride, swaps the timing chip with the runner, and then the runner goes off and does the run.”
Robina will be the first of seven triathlons that make up the series, with the last leg of the series being held at the beginning of 2020.
Griffith University physiotherapy student Carmen Teiniker has been competing in triathlons since she was 12 years old and said this year she was planning on competing in at least three legs of the Queensland Triathlon Series.
“I’ve been doing triathlons since I was 12 and I’m now 19,” Ms Teiniker said.
“I’ll be doing at least three or four of the events that are a part of the Triathlon Series, just the ones that are a bit close to home,” she said.
“I always participate in the Robina event, it’s just around the corner from home, so it’s nice to go down to and have a good race.”
Ms Teiniker said although she was doing the race for enjoyment, she was also hoping to beat the time from her last Robina race.
“Last time I did Robina was in January and I think I did two hours [and] 20 [minutes] for the standard distance, so I’m hoping to go faster than that this time,” she said.
“I do it pretty competitively, it’s definitely still for fun, but I enjoy racing.”
Local coach and regular triathlete Des Gooda said he had seen an increase in the Queensland Triathlon Series participation over the years.
“I coach all ages, we have a wide variant from juniors right up to 84, and I’d like to think I have seen an increase,” Mr Gooda said.
“I hear a few people talk about the sport declining, but I definitely haven’t seen that, it definitely hasn’t gone backwards and I still believe that it’s growing quite rapidly,” he said.
Mr Gooda said simply getting involved and having fun was what kept him coming back for more each year.
“I have to say, I do it for the fun of it, but I’m really passionate about it so I’ll always try to do my best,” he said.
“But I don’t go out there particularly to try and beat a time or anything, I just try to do the best I can,” Mr Gooda said.
“I usually participate in around 10 or 12 [triathlons] in a year, and if I stop I’d probably go backwards, so while I’m fit and healthy enough I’m just going to keep going,” he said.
The Robina triathlon commences at 6.30am on Sunday, and the event wraps up by around 10:30am.
Online registration closes on September 27.
For more information about the Queensland Triathlon Series or to register, visit the event website.