Fast and furious racing has highlighted the Super Saturday program at the 2024 Garmin Noosa Triathlon.
Super Saturday saw a host of top athletes race for the ASICS Noosa Bolt and GWM Australian Open Criterium titles, with the ever popular Celebrity Triathlon providing plenty of entertainment.
Leanne Pompeani claimed the women’s ASCIS Noosa Bolt title, with a dominant win over the 5km event. Pompeani, a former winner of Sydney’s City2Surf, crossed the line in 15:39, almost 20 seconds clear of Georgia Griffith, with Caitlin Adams third.
“I was looking forward to doing this race, it’s my first time doing it and I’ve heard it’s a great weekend and the crowd really turned up and it’s a lot of fun,” said Pompeani. “Race plan was just do what I do, I’m fit at the moment so just race hard, I know Georgia Griffith has the Australian record over the 3km so she’s got a lot of speed so I thought the only way I’m going to beat her is running my own race and going hard from the start.”
Thousands of spectators lined the course in Noosa, providing a welcome energy boost for athletes, with Pompeani enjoying the atmosphere.
“It was awesome, you don’t get many races where in a short space, small space, people just cheering right in your ear the whole way,” she said.
Jude Thomas won the men’s ASICS Noosa Bolt race in one of the closet finishes in the event’s history. A large pack pushed hard throughout the race, with Thomas in amongst the leaders the whole way, before pushing ahead in the final stages. Thomas eventually took the win in 13:50, stopping the clock in the same second as Samuel Clifford, with former champion Jack Rayner third.
“I just tried to stay out of trouble for most of the race and rely on my kick in the end, we’ve been doing some track work earlier in the season because this is the first race,” said Thomas. “I had a bit more speed than some of the other guys, like Jack who’s been doing some marathon training, so I knew if I stayed back and waited for that last straight I’d have a chance to win it and it worked it out.
“I knew once I hit the front on the downhill I knew I was going to be able to get away there because I had a full head of steam heading down, saw the finish line, saw a little gap on the boys on the TV and it was a good feeling,” he said.
Paris 2024 Olympic Games representative Sophie Edwards was first over the line in the GWM Australian Open Criterium women’s event after leading the way for most of the race.
Edwards hit the lead early and never looked back, taking the win ahead of Lucinda Steward, with Amelie Sanders third.
“I spent most of the race off the front on my own, after a couple of laps I felt that it was actually going to stick so I settled into my own rhythm, tried my best to communicate with my teammates as I could across the course and just held on for as long as I could.
“We knew that we wanted to try and get a bit of a breakaway, make an exciting and aggressive race because it’s not normal that we get to race in front of this many people and we wanted to show them that women’s racing can actually be really exciting, that was definitely the plan, probably it wasn’t meant to be me off the front but when I worked out it was going to stick I committed fully knowing I could trust the girls behind me if I got caught,” said Edwards.
Kaden Groves took top step on the podium in the GWM Australian Open Criterium men’s race, edging out Ben Carmen and Finn Walsh in a sprint finish.
While Edwards dominated the women’s race it was a different story in the men’s with the front group jostling throughout, before Groves got ahead when it mattered and took the chequered flag.
“It was really nice, it’s always a beautiful event here to be a part of but also a super hard afternoon but I really enjoyed it, it was a great race out there with a really good group and we had a good race in the end and it came down to the wire,” said Groves. “We really went from the start, I think there was already a selection right away, a lot of the young domestic team riders made it an aggressive race and that splits it up, in the end we had a lot of regroupings and attacks and it was a sprint to the finish.”
While there was a lot on the line for most of the afternoon it wasn’t all serious business, with the Celebrity Triathlon providing plenty of entertainment. The Celebrity Triathlon featured 10 teams from a host of backgrounds, including Olympians, Paralympians, AFL and NRL players, and IRONMAN World Champions amongst others.
The race was taken out by the team of Luke McKenzie, Annette Edmonson and Harry Price who were impressive across all three legs.
Also in the field was three-time Ironman World Champion and Olympic gold medallist Jan Frodeno, who teamed up with David Lutteral and former NRL player Ben Hannant. It was Frodeno’s first visit to the Noosa Triathlon in a number of years and he enjoyed being back.
“That was hard, anyone who says it’s just for fun is plain lying, but it was a good time,” said Frodeno. “It’s awesome here, the crowds come out, families are out, it’s what Noosa is all about and I suggest people get out and see it.”
The Celebrity Triathlon saw the likes of Paris 2024 Paralympic Games gold medallist Lauren Parker, former Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath, Collingwood AFL player Scott Pendlebury and three-time Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae take part.
Noosa Triathlon is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland.
For more information visit noosatri.com.au/
ASICS NOOSA BOLT – WOMEN’S RESULTS
Leanne Pompeani – 15:39
Georgia Griffith – 15:58
Caitlin Adams – 16:09
ASICS NOOSA BOLT – MEN’S RESULTS
Jude Thomas – 13:50
Samuel Clifford – 13:50
Jack Rayner – 13:53
GWM AUSTRALIAN OPEN CRITERIUM – WOMEN’S RESULTS
Sophie Edwards
Lucinda Stewart
Amelie Sanders
GWM AUSTRALIAN OPEN CRITERIUM – MEN’S RESULTS
Kaden Groves
Ben Carman
Finn Walsh
