An Olympics-bound star saluted in the Mooloolaba Tri, a journeyman claimed the Queensland Open golf title and a couple of locals made a splash at the Australian open water swimming championships as the Sunshine Coast turned on a spectacular weekend of events.
Thousands of athletes and supporters flocked to the region amid blue skies, warm conditions and shimmering seas with organisers ecstatic with the successful return to top competition after last year’s COVID-hit hiatus.
At Mooloolaba, Australia’s best triathletes battled for a national title while droves of amateurs took part in the feature race.
Tokyo-bound Ashleigh Gentle won the elite women’s race in 1hr59min05sec, finishing 39 seconds ahead of Jaz Hedgeland.
“I’m working pretty hard to nail the basics now and it’s only the very start of my build up to Tokyo,” Gentle said.
“I’m pretty pleased with how I felt, I’ve got lots of work to do to be honest, but I can’t complain with this result.”
Matthew Hauser pressed his claims for Olympic selection by winning the elite men’s race in 1hr43min24sec, with a 13sec buffer over Brandon Copeland.
“Today is just another step forward towards Tokyo, another stamp on my name to the selectors,” he said.
“Hopefully, they’ll see this and see how my form is progressing, that’s all I can do, keep on putting in performances like this,” he said.
About 2700 weekend warriors were in age group races on Sunday morning, swimming 1.5km at Mooloolaba, riding 40km to Coolum and back and running 10km along Alexandra Headland.
Leigh Anderson-Voigt and Sunshine Coaster Amelia Watkinson were first to find the line.
At Coolum, the nation’s best open water swimmers competed for Australian titles.
The event was held at Oz Ski Resort and included several distances for various age groups.
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All eyes were on the open 10km races on Saturday, when Noosa Swim Club duo Kareena Lee and Nick Sloman made their presence felt.
The former dominated and clocked 2hr05min06sec to snare her third straight Aussie title, ahead of Gold Coast’s Bianca Crisp by six seconds.
The 27-year-old had already earned her place at the Games with strong performances last year.
“I knew that the girls would make it quite a tough race, but my goal was to go out there and try and stay in the pack a little bit more because that’s what I need to practise going into Tokyo,” she said.
“I still felt it was a pretty fast race so I didn’t have to hold myself back too much but I did have enough in the end to sprint, so I was happy I was able to do that in the end.”
Sloman, 23, was unable to defend his national title but he did more than enough to snare an all-important place in the top two.
Gold Coast’s Kai Edwards won the race in 1:56.11, just 0.42 seconds ahead of Sloman and they will represent Australia at an Olympic qualifying event that is scheduled for Japan in May. The top Aussie there is set to claim a berth at the Games.
“Obviously no one likes to lose, and I did come second, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to get to Fukuoka, and I managed to do that,” Sloman said.
“The strategy wasn’t quite 100 per cent right but we’ll learn from that and hopefully come Fukuoka I can be the first Australian across the line.”
Sloman got some redemption in the 5km event on Sunday, beating Edwards to the line.
Noosa’s Finella Gibbs-Beal won the girls under-17 7.5km and 5km races while Ella Wassing won the girls under-19 5km race.
The red-hot sporting action continued on land at Pelican Waters, where many of Australia’s best golfers battled for the Queensland Open title.
The four-day tournament culminated on Sunday, when Sydneysider Andrew Evans claimed a drought-breaking victory.
He finished on 18-under par, two strokes ahead of Deyen Lawson, Bryden Macpherson and Blake Windred.
He shot rounds of 68, 70, 75 and 67 to win his first title in a decade.
“This is unreal … I never thought this day would happen,” he said.
“I think I’m a good player but without something like this to your career, you are kind of just another player. It’s pretty sweet to get over the line.”
The 35-year-old, a runner-up in the 2015 Australian Masters, cancelled his flight home on Sunday night so he could celebrate.
Sunshine Coast’s Shae Wools-Cobb finished fifth.
The triple treat of events attracted thousands of people to the region and provided plenty of exposure, boosting the local economy.
Visit Sunshine Coast CEO Matt Stoeckel told sunshinecoastnews.com.au last week the region had earned a reputation as a premium events tourism destination.
“There are approximately 50 events planned across the Sunshine Coast Council’s event calendar alone for 2021,” he said.
“Through staging these events, the Sunshine Coast is viewed as an attractive tourism destination for athletes to combine event participation with a holiday.”
Sunshine Coast Councillor Cr Jason O’Pray said the triathlon alone provided a $5 million boost to the region.
“And while the athletes are out on the course, our Mooloolaba businesses are keen to serve the locals as usual,” Cr O’Pray said.
