Here on the Sunshine Coast, there are always plenty of people who enjoy keeping fit and taking advantage of our incredible landscapes to swim, run, and ride their way to their goals. For some, they train for vanity, others to push their bodies to the limit of human endurance – for fun I guess? It’s not just insanity, this is an actual sporting event – the Triathlon. It isn’t just about pride, or competing to be the best. For some it’s part of a goal to pursue a better and healthier lifestyle, for others they do it in the name of charity. What ever their reasoning, this year they’re flocking from all over the world to take part in the 35th annual Noosa Triathlon, as part of the Noosa Multi-Sport Festival this November 1st to 5th .

Few such sporting events can rival the size and drawing power of the Noosa Triathlon Multi-Sport Festival. It’s hard to compete against Noosa’s incredible coastline, flanked by breathtaking hinterlands. The main event, the Noosa Triathlon will take place on the final day of the festival, on Sunday the 5th of November. The waves of competitors will begin at 6:15am and fittingly begin with a one and a half kilometre swim in the calm blue waters of the Laguna Bay, just off the Noosa main beach. Following up the swim will be an incredible forty kilometres of riding up and out of Noosa, and into the Hinterlands itself along the Noosa-Cooroy road, through the Tewantin State Forest. To bring the event to an end will be the ten kilometre run in and around Noosa itself, taking in all it has to offer before finally climaxing at Lions Park, just off the infamous Hastings Street.

In addition to the main event, there will of course be a number of other events that you can take part in – from the “Noosa Run-Swim-Run”, the “Breakfast Fun Run”, the “1000 Ocean swim” and the ever popular “Noosa Superkidz Triathlon”. All proceeds from these events will be going to charity, as this is a non-for-profit event. There are a number of beneficiaries this year, including; Smiling for Smiddy, Heartkids, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Beyond Blue, Cancer Council Queensland, Make a Wish Australia, Cystic Fibrosis Queensland, RSPCA Queensland, the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, and the Kids Foundation. Every year this event raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for all of these fantastic organisations that are more than worthy of everyone’s support, and every little bit counts as always. If you’d like to sign up to put your body on the line in some form or another this year, or simply would like to support those who do, then visit the Noosa Triathlon Multi-Sport Festival’s webpage on the Ironman website.