Triathlon Queensland welcomes Cara Turnley who has been elected by the Board as the new President of Triathlon QLD. Cara has previously held the position of Board Member since 2019 and now moves into the role of President and Chairperson for Triathlon QLD and becomes Triathlon QLD’s first female President.
Cara replaces Mark Browne who has been working toward this succession plan for sometime ahead of his term ending in October this year. Mark remains on the Board as a Director through to the end of his term, and will assist a smooth transition of the Presidency.
“I am very excited to be given the opportunity to represent the Board, club members and athletes from all across our beautiful state. While COVID has definitely put a pothole or two in our way, we have seen record numbers of registrations for multi-sport races of all distances and disciplines as restrictions have eased, and I want to help our sport continue to grow at every level of competition.”
“Along with Triathlon Australia, we are working towards ways to create a more efficient and effective service model, so we can dedicate as much of our efforts as possible to helping our clubs and race directors deliver high quality training and events across Queensland.”
Cara became interested in Triathlon after signing up for the 2018 Noosa Tri as a bucket list goal, then signed up to her local tri club as a beginner. Cara has since completed 2x 70.3 events and has a longer term goal of a full ironman distance race.
“I personally love that triathlon is an individual sport on race day, but you train and become friends with your club mates so it's a good balance. For me the biggest battle and the most satisfying victory is conquering the voice in your head telling you to stop or slow down; endurance events take this to another level.”
Corporately Cara is a Process Improvement Specialist at Super Retail Group and has also worked in tax and internal audit at PwC Australia. In addition, Cara was a winner of the 2018 QBM MBA Responsible Leadership Scholarship through Griffith University. Cara brings to the table a strong understanding of business processes along with business improvement and financial analysis.
“It's an often repeated phrase that COVID brought us 'unprecedented times', but it was certainly true for us on the TQ board. The leadership and guidance displayed by Tim and Mark is one of the reasons we are now in such a strong position to take triathlon to more Queenslanders than ever. Mark has certainly left me big shoes to fill and I appreciate his support as new President.”
