By Jolene Ogle
THE Noosa Triathlon is the region’s biggest sporting event and a new female-only training initiative is hoping to get women out from the spectator stand and into the race.
The initiative is the brainchild of the Noosa Tri Club and has been made possible through funding aimed at promoting female participation in triathlon events.
Noosa Tri Club president Tim Rook said he noticed women new to a sport may feel intimidated when training in a mixed environment.
“Because of this, we wanted to create a female-only environment where sessions are led by a professional female coach,” he said.
“We are hoping this will prompt women to come and try having seen the Noosa Triathlon and been inspired by that.”
The Noosa Tri Club will hold training sessions that fit around work and school drop-off commitments to hopefully allow mums to get time for themselves during school hours where they can meet like-minded women.
“We want the sessions to be fun as well as challenging,” he said. “We will cater for novices, we have several female members who didn’t get into the sport until well into their 40s and 50s so we hope any female with or without a sporting background will want to take part.”
The classes will be led by Noosa-based coach Jess Fleming, who has competed in Ironwoman races around the world and recently placed first in the 2016 Challenge Vietnam full iron-distance triathlon.
As a mother-of-two, Jess is familiar with juggling work and family life with health and fitness, but event organisers are hoping to help other women achieve a healthy balance through the initiative.
“After a long time in the sport and the last three years as a professional, I feel it’s time to ‘give back’ to other ladies out there that want to get into triathlon,” she said.
“I want to prove to women out there that it isn’t as scary as it seems and anyone can get involved. I haven’t forgotten where I started when I first came into triathlon as a complete non-swimmer and never having ridden a bike competitively. But, I was able to progress and have fun at the same time right up to a professional level.”
Jess has previously conducted two female-only courses through her coaching company Multisportconsultants with fantastic outcomes.
“The girls I brought together now meet regularly to swim bike and run, they found a new sport, courage to do so and friends along the way,” she said.
The Noosa Triathlon Club will host an open morning on Sunday 29 January at the Noosa Lions Park in Noosa Heads.
All women are welcome to head along and find out more about the free personalised, eight-week training plans.
The female-only classes will be led by Jess at various times of the day and there will also be a female-only, two-day triathlon training camp in June.
Anyone interested in giving the training classes a “tri” can register through the Noosa Tri Club’s Facebook page or website www.noosatriclub.com or head along to the open morning on Sunday 29 January at the Noosa Lions Park in Noosa Heads.
