By Margaret Maccoll
Almost 4000 athletes, many local, swam, ran or cycled in the Noosa Ultimate Sports Festival held over the weekend.
Marketing manager Ultan O’Dwyer said the event for all ages and abilities was “about having fun”.
“There are a lot of families and a lot of people coming for the first time,” he said.
Ultan said the courses with the swim on Noosa Main Beach, the run along the river and cycle through Noosa hinterland showed off the spectacular area.
“Participants enjoyed the views of Noosa on our new-run courses, and cyclists loved the ride. Travelling through the early morning mist in the mountains was magical,” he said.
Ultan said a number of triathletes used the event for training as the distances were Ironman distances and quite a few participated in the swim event on Saturday and the ride or run on Sunday.
There were some more serious competitors including last year’s male and female winners of the half marathon, Isaias Beyn and Cassie Fien who had returned to defend their wins.
Isaaias reclaimed his title after winning in 1hr 6min 39sec with Cassie coming in second at 1hr 15min 19sec to Danielle Allen, 23, who finished in 1hr 14min 57sec.
