12 months to the day, 8 individuals crossed the line of the 2010 Mooloolaba Triathlon and post race wondered if  we could created a club with a point of difference? We came up with an idea for a Not-for-profit club, whereby there were no monthly fees, no fears of being too intense so that beginners felt intimidated, but also had the ability to allow those that want to strive for their very best access to exceptional coaches and trainers that have experienced at the highest level.

This weekend, the heart of South Bank Triathlon Club shone through in an emphatic way. With 55 of our  members taking part in the Individual event and a number of team entries, SBTC’s colours flew loud and proud as we scattered across the 1000’s of athletes that tackled the best that Mooloolaba could offer!

Our Members enjoyed a relatively calm swim leg and a sensational first half of the cycle leg. Everyone powered along the David Low Motorway for the first 20km thanks to a very kind tail wind… And then came the turn … Which immediately turned from Kind to Evil as the wind got its revenge by way of a punishing head wind that saw many experience roughly a 10km/h decrease in ave speed for the ride home!

Then the beloved Mooloolaba to Alex run … Or what we started calling “Mt Mooloolaba!” No legs were spared as Mooloolaba again rewarded those who spent quality training time pounding the pavement and punished those who had not been as diligent!

Congratulations to a number of members who achieved a PB for the race!

Then …. It was P A R T Y time in our hot new Marquee. We stopped counting once the numbers grew beyond 50, spilled beyond the Marquee and we smashed into the BBQ and Beverages on offer! The only performance greater than that of our athletes was that of our social commitment during a soggy ladies elite race. With 112 of the 120 Beers consumed in a little over the two hour window, the social side of our club was clearly validated just as profoundly as our competitive side was just hours before.

A huge thanks to all the members be they competitors or support crew who came along on the day. Especially those who did not get the chance to compete but still wanted to support their fellow club members!

The committee would like to pay an extra special thanks to David and Heather Cutcheon. Thank you so much for a tremendous Marquee location. And as always, Jeani Bradford has again spoiled us with tremendous Raceday photos. All of which will be on our Facebook page soon. For those that see an image they like, simply email the club and we can provide to you in high resolution.

We always thought members would get pretty awesome value for just a $40 p.a. Investment … Seems a number  of you agree. Just watch and enjoy as we continue to go from strength to strength!

SBTC Inc

It’s fair to say this weekend is the biggest weekend in SBTC’s short history. Not only are we about results but we are also about being a club that prides itself on the social environment as much as the sporting one … which we think we also offer a pretty good deal on! As such, there are a heap of club organized events this weekend up at Mooloolaba for those competing, or those just wanting to soak up the atmosphere.

Please don’t think we expect everyone to be at every event. In fact the committee/coaches won’t be at every one!!!. We just want to make sure all our club members know about all the social benefits which exist with SBTC this weekend!

Saturday

630am – Social Club Ride

Leaving from Mooloolaba Surf Club and heading along the race course and back. Will come back via the kids tri event as we have a head of “cub”mates also competing.

1030am – Australian Power & Gas Mooloolaba Ocean Swim RACE

Cheer on our clubmates taking part in the tough 1000m race. We will meet at “loo with a view.”

3pm – ITU Mooloolaba World Cup RACE START – MEN

Watch the world elite “tent-side” compete at a pace most of us could ever dream of!

5pm – Social Gathering at Mooloolaba Surf Club

For those also wanting to build on the more social side of SBTC, a number of members are planning to meet at the Surf club for a pre race chat, possible meal and or a few drinks (water for those competing!!!) all in an effort to again soak up the pre race buzz.

Sunday

6:30am Mooloolaba Triathlon - Northside Party Hire ITU Oceania Cup

Cheer on your loved ones using our Tent as base camp for the ride and run leg. Then once they are done, cheer home the rest of our team members who are achieveing the great feat!

12:45 – ITU Mooloolaba World Cup RACE START – WOMEN + Start of SBTC After party

Even though our Club Ambassador Felicity Abram is not starting this year, don’t waste the chance to cheer on some of the world’s finest female Triathletes. With our races now behind us, come along and have a few celebratory drinks. All beers, Wine and Soft Drinks will be a Gold Coin donation to the club and taste GREAT after a long hard day pounding the pavement.

Don’t risk your valuable on race day!

Now as great as we are as a club we are even better as supporters of our loved ones. This means, on race day we will have lots of people coming and going from the tent during our Age Group races. This could mean the tent is empty for a little while.

So … as precaution, if there is anything you own that you don’t want to disappear PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave it at the USM Gear Tent where it will be secure and not our un-secure one. We don’t want anyone to be devastated on the day by theft!!!

SBTC made our intentions clear about what we want to achieve at this years Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival with a huge turn out to what will now be our ANNUAL Mooloolaba Training day!

True to the form of the Mooloolaba experience we enjoyed a variety of conditions. Our 800m swim leg certainly gave our members an insight in what it feels like to be in a washing machine! With a great presence from the Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club watching us at our turning buoys, and the superfish guidance of Luke and Josh, we managed to still feel so safe in the water (lucky for us the Shark made an afternoon appearance and was the entertainment over lunch!).

After we had all consumed our monthly quota of salt intake we set course for a TT hit out under the guidance of Mel Gillespie. Big thanks to Mel for finding our little course which provided great hills and plenty of time to work hard down on the bars!

Upon our return from the hidden pockets of the Sunshine Coast the sun was well and truly cooking. Chris Moor took a small group of 7 out on an envious 40min 10km pace whilst the rest of us were either with Ross and Steve or the ever shy Tiffany Sheerin! With the Sun in full force the club has identified the first main addition to next years event which shall be an Aid Station on the run!!!

Then, as we all returned to our beachside base at different internals, our minds switched immediately to food! And under the guidance of Matt and Gary a swarm of food was cooked out and then demolished in what was another Personal Best time!

A huge thanks to all who were able to lend a hand on the day as there were so many. Its fair to say our Club pride is alive and well. But when you spend time with terrific people like those our club is full of how can we do anything but have a great day at the beach. Next stop … The real thing! Waht a weekend it promises to be.

Remember being part of SBTC will not just be about competing on the Sunday. We will have:

• A Saturday morning ride,
• Cheer on our clubmates doing the swim,
• Cheer on our Aussie Men from our on course Marquee Saturday arvo in their Elite Race.
• Kick off the post race celebrations in the marquee by cheering on our Aussie ladies from 12:45pm.

Our club is very excited about our first Pre-race training day this Sunday 13th March 2011. Things like this are a huge step forward for a club like ours, a not-for-profit club that is steered and driven by volunteers. To make our first training day a success we have a few key things we need all of those participating to help us out with.

Where we will meet at 8:30am?

• What better place is there then transition “Which will be a car park on this day!”
• If you have a bike lock, it might be worth locking your bike to your roof rack as we will need to leave it whilst we go for the swim and run.

For the Swim Leg

• Luke Stafford (our swim coach) will lead the swim.
• We are hoping to secure Mooloolaba Surf Club to also provide life guards to watch over our bunch swim.
• We plan to be in the water at 9am.
• To do this we need to be on route to swim start no later than 8:45am
• If you are not confident of keeping with the bunch we suggest you bring along flippers!

For the ride Leg

• We will depart from “transition” at 9:45am.
• Mel Gillespie will lead the ride. Drew Standish will be midpack for safety and Tiff Sheerin will be at the back.
• Remember to have your fluids on you
• If you have clincher wheels, then be sure to pack a spare tube and canister!

For the run Leg

• Chris Moor is leading the 40min pace; Matt Sheerin 50min and Tiff Sheerin 60+min
• We will depart from “transition” at 11:15am.
• Remember to have your fluid and Gel’s on you as it will get very warm out there!

Post session Feast + Course chat

• Tiff and Matt Sheerin have organised the outdoor section of Mantra on the Esplande to be out post session venue.
• We will be putting on a bacon, eggs + snags breakfast for all club members and their support crew!
• Mantra has outdoor shower facilities so bring a towel and revel in the knowledge you can clean up post training!
• As well as socialising, we will also be providing Q+A on course tips, suggestions and advice for the big day!

To assist with costs for the day we were hoping all members would be kind enough to contribute $10 each. However please note this money WILL cover food for ALL your support crew coming up on the day!