The triathlon community in Queensland is booming, with over 75 clubs from the far north to the New South Wales border. Our members are lucky to have a plethora of clubs and coaches offering support for any type of triathlete, with club environments where everyone is made to feel welcome. This year, we have been lucky to witness the connection and collaboration between many of our clubs. While it may be all about club rivalry on the start line on race day, our clubs have found methods to combine resources to provide the most benefits to their members during the training season.
Our regional clubs have been well practised at working together. As a great example, Whitsunday Triathlon Club recently loaned and transported their event equipment to Mackay Triathlon Club to increase capacity for the Mackay Triathlon Festival. Our clubs in the NQ region are often delivering events, merging their training sessions and sharing equipment and timing systems to enable events to be delivered on a weekly basis.
Some of the SEQ clubs who have started to benefit from cooperative training sessions are Mavericks Coaching Alliance, South Bank Triathlon Club, Redcliffe Tri Club and Red Dog Triathlon Training. We caught up with these clubs and find out more.
Daniel McTainsh – Mavericks Coaching Alliance
“The best thing is probably being able to train with different people in different locations. If you’re riding in a new location, you get more access to more resources and local area knowledge.”
Damien Jeffery – South Bank Tri Club
“Our club has done a few brick sessions with Redcliffe Tri Club and Carina Leagues Triathlon Club. We are planning future sessions with Bayside Multisport. Our members love meeting new people, particularly when doing the same upcoming events. They also like the variety of sessions and venues to keep things interesting. Since doing the brick session with Carina Leagues, we positioned our tents next to each other at the recent Sunshine Coast event and our members cheered each other on.”
Mark Gilbert – Redcliffe Tri Club
“Our club has conducted a session with South Bank Tri Club. Both of our club Presidents worked together at the time, so it was easy to prepare with both Directors of Coaching. Triathlon is such a community spectacle - it’s always good to know more people that you can support on race days. I think there should be more of this. Getting clubs together on a regular basis will only improve the level of support and it’s good for coaches to share tips and information, which in turn will help athletes become better triathletes.”
Cath Collis – Red Dog Triathlon Training
“We have recently conducted a joint session with Team T-Rex on the Gold Coast. It’s motivating and exciting for the athletes to train or simulate race conditions outside of their normal training environment. From a coaching perspective, it’s great to collaborate with other coaches and explore different ways of prescribing a drill or session. The exposure to expertise and facilities that clubs may not be able to access in their general training environment is very beneficial. Creating a different and/or challenging environment often encourages the athletes to produce greater performance outcomes.
It also provided members with the opportunity to forge friendships with other athletes leading into the recent ITU World Championships on the Gold Coast. I would encourage other clubs to reach out to another club with a similar coaching philosophy and club demographic, and ensure all parties understand the purpose of the session, as this makes the process smoother for all involved. Experiencing a different mode of delivery may be useful for certain athletes on occasions as the message may resonate with them in a different way.”
