After a week of solid rain and wind, conditions were exceptionally testing for athletes at the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival. 

 

Due to water quality conditions in the canal, the kids event was changed to a duathlon format, however as the swim for the ITU World Cup and Age Group event was in the ocean, their swim remained unchanged.

 

The ITU World Cup event, one of the last races before the Commonwealth Games race, saw fast furious racing.  No Queensland athletes were among the women's field, which was won by NSW athlete, Emma Jeffcoat.  The men's race saw the top 12 athletes cross the line within 60 seconds of each other.  Coming in four seconds behind the winner, Richard Murray (RSA), was Queenslander Matt Hauser (Bond University Triathlon Club).  Luke Willian (Warwick Dalziel Triathlon) was just 31 seconds behind Hauser, claiming 8th place.  Brandon Copeland (Bond University Triathlon Club) rounded out our Queensland athletes, finishing in 19th place. 

 

The Age Group race the following day played host to the Australian Standard Distance Championships - and double points for athletes trying to qualify for the ITU Age Group World Championship - Standard Distance team, racing on the Gold Coast later this year.

 

16 Queenslanders were named Age Group Champions, and Max Neumann (Pine Rivers Tri Sports Club) took out the Open category.