A crack field is set to take part in the Australian Elite Standard Distance Championships at Mooloolaba on Sunday.
While thousands of age groupers will compete in the feature Mooloolaba Triathlon, Australia’s best triathletes will race in a special event.
Ashleigh Gentle, Emma Jeffcoat, Emma Jackson, Aaron Royle, Jake Birtwhistle and Matt Hauser are among those set to take part in the 1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run event.
For Gentle and Birtwhistle, it’s a crucial outing ahead of the Olympics in July.
“They have already prequalified for the Games, so it’s going to be really important for their preparations leading to Tokyo,” race director Toby Keegan said.
It’s arguably more important for some of the other elite athletes, who are keen to press their claims for Olympic selection.
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“I think any time an athlete puts on a good performance against his or her peers, that is going to weigh heavily in the selection process,” Keegan said.
“Those athletes who are on the cusp of qualifying are going to be looking at this race quite seriously, especially because it is Olympic distance.”
“It’s the first standard distance hit-out for a while, for a lot of the athletes.”
Gentle, a Rio Olympian, is eager to use the race as a build-up to the Tokyo Games.
“I really just want to see where I’m at in Mooloolaba,” she said.
“It’s going to be my first Olympic distance race since Lausanne 2019, which is really crazy.
“I don’t think I’ve gone that long without racing a standard distance race before.
“It will be a great test to see where I’m at, where my fitness is at, and there’s no better evaluation of fitness and skills than a race, and hopefully I’ll be able to see how things go and which direction I need to head in.”
She’s determined to produce a strong performance.
“I really want to execute a good race in Mooloolaba.”
“My training is coming together and I’m really enjoying it at the moment, so I just want to see if I can convert those good feelings in training to a race.”
Birtwhistle is equally eager to compete.
“Noosa 2019 was my last race so I’m just happy to be back on a start line,” he said.
“I’ve had a solid block of aerobic training building up over the past few months so it’ll be interesting to see how my progress is tracking.
“Tokyo is of course my main focus for this season, and as that’s still quite some time away I will happily say I’m not at my best now.
“I didn’t really plan to start racing this season until May, but with so much uncertainty around events globally it just made sense for me to race Mooloolaba because we don’t really know when the next races will be.”
The Australian Elite Standard Distance Championship race essentially replaces the ITU World Cup race at the festival.
The latter can’t be held because of the impact of COVID and travel restrictions for international athletes.
The kids’ triathlon, 5km running race and criterium won’t be held his year.
“With our COVID Safe plan and our guidelines we just weren’t able to get those ones on the event schedule, but they will be back in some way, shape or form next year,” Keegan said.
But that has opened a window for organisers to plan another race for Saturday.
About 750 athletes have signed up for a non-drafting sprint triathlon.
And hundreds of competitors have registered for a draft-legal sprint race on Sunday.
The feature Mooloolaba Triathlon, over the standard distance, is set to attract about 2700 competitors on Sunday.
There’s one significant change to the triathlon course, with the transition moved from the main Mooloolaba carpark to the park at Parkyn Parade.
“It’s a nice, big grass area beside the beach so we think it’s a great location for the transition,” Keegan said.
“It’s a short run off the beach, so swimmers can be into transition fairly quickly.”
