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WHEN Mark Emerton started the Huskisson Triathlon Festival 12 years ago he hoped it would be a success.
He never dreamed it would grow into the second biggest triathlon festival in the Southern Hemisphere.
Last weekend’s three-day festival attracted almost 5000 entries. A far cry from 573 in its first year.
“I never dreamed we would end up like this,” said Mr Emerton, who runs Elite Energy.
“It’s all a bit surreal. To have the second largest triathlon in the Southern Hemisphere is pretty incredible. The Ironman Corporation runs the biggest event at Noosa. But we are are the biggest privately owned event.”
Mr Emerton said the event which now boasts the biggest triathlon expo in Australia, could get bigger.
“There is scope to grow the event even further but we don’t want it to get out of control,” he said.
“We don’t want it to lose that personal touch. Everyone loves the event not only because of the sensational location but also the hands on approach.
“We are being careful we don’t lose that.”
He paid credit to the Huskisson Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, with whom they work closely to make the event a success, along with Shoalhaven City Council and Destination NSW.
“Over the past few years in particular we have worked closely with Huskisson Chamber of Commerce. They have been exceptional and are keen to get involved and get the community involved in the event,” he said.
This year’s program started on Friday with 35 stalls at the expo, followed by 320 competitors taking part in an ocean swim in the evening.
While Sunday’s Long Course event, part of the Ultimate Triathlon Championship, was the highlight of the program, attracting almost 1300 competitors, close to three and a half thousand tackled a variety of events on Saturday.
“We had a men’s and women’s sprint triathlon, and enticer triathlon and three fun runs, while 600 kids aged 7-11 took part in the Miniman Triathlon,” he said.
“We ran out of late entry forms for the kids and had to get more printed. It was just incredible.
“The increased popularity of the event is great but we can’t get carried away.”
We never expected this growth.
- Huskisson Triathlon Festival organiser Mark Emerton from Elite Energy
Mr Emerton said a full time staff of 18 people ensure the Huskisson Festival runs smoothly.
“We also have 380 odd volunteers who make sure everything is right to go,” he said.
“We have some volunteers who have been with us from the start. The community has really taken ownership of the event.
“Sure there are parts of the community who don’t enjoy the event. You can never please everyone and we do apologise if anyone is inconvenienced over the weekend.”
He said competitors’ bikes have to be logged in the night prior to the event, meaning they have to say in the area, which ensures more money is being spent locally.
“Most of the competitors also stay the Sunday as well and are often in the area well into the Monday,” he said.
Locally Elite Energy also holds triathlons in Nowra and Callala and a running festival at Huskisson.
“We are working on an exciting new event on the water, called Sand and Sea, which will include stand up paddle boards, kite surfing, windsurfing and beach volleyball,” Mr Emerton said.
“We will be looking at staging it at various Shoalhaven beaches.”
A full or half ironman triathlon with a twist is another exciting new event planned for the region, with Mr Emerton saying he hopes to hold the event over three days in October.
“We will hold the swim and run legs at Huskisson and the ride leg at the back of Albatross and Burrier,” he said.
“Competitors will complete a leg of the race each day. We envisage having the swim on the Friday, bike on the Saturday and run on the Sunday.”
Chamber backs festival
Huskisson Chamber and Commerce and Tourism president Wendy Smith said the triathlon festival was a great boost for the area.
“The chamber supports the event which brings a huge amount of people and money into the town,” she said.
“There are around 5000 competitors and they usually bring at least one or two supporters with them.
“Accommodation is often booked out a year in advance. Certainly there are some businesses who feel and say they suffer over the three days of the event but you have to look at the big picture.
“We couldn’t pay for the sort of advertising and exposure the region gets from the event. Or the amount of people the event goes out to.
“A number of them come back at other times during the year for a holiday.
“While as a chamber we support the event, ultimately it is Shoalhaven City Council that approves the event.”
She said traditionally the weekends prior to and after the event were “huge” and business owners who felt their trade was down certainly had the chance to make up for it over those two weekends.
“I can understand business owners and residents might get frustrated, particularly with lack of access on Saturday and Sunday,” she said.
“Some businesses say they suffer. Others boom.
“We work closely with Elite Energy to make the event as smooth as possible. We are always trying to iron out any hiccups that may arise.”