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# ROAD TO NOOSA TRI #3 - COURTNEY ATKINSON: 3x TIME NOOSA TRI WINNER
- URL: https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/road-to-noosa-tri-3-courtney-atkinson-3x-time-noosa-tri-winner/
- Published: 2025-09-23T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T11:00:37.000Z
- Description: Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on Noosa Triathlon, Olympics & 2032 — recorded on the Gold Coast.
- Author: Courtney Atkinson
- Tags: Episodes, Triathlon, Olympics, #Import 2026-07-28 20:58

*Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on Noosa Triathlon, Olympics & 2032 — recorded on the Gold Coast.*

## Listen

Listen on [Spotify](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inthebeginningpodcast/episodes/ROAD-TO-NOOSA-TRI-3---COURTNEY-ATKINSON-3x-TIME-NOOSA-TRI-WINNER-e38313s?ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com) or [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/road-to-noosa-tri-3-courtney-atkinson-3x-time-noosa/id1772010786?i=1000728095882&uo=4&ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com).

## Full transcript

Auto-generated transcript. Timestamps approximate. Hosts: Courtney Atkinson & Liam Flanagan.

**Read the full transcript** 

\[00:00\] In the Beginning runs the Noosa Triathlon, and I hope you've been enjoying the series so far. Dan Atkins has been jumping in as coach through this series, but today is special. Today is truly a guest I've wanted to sit down and talk triathlon with for a very, very long time: Courtney Atkinson. I'm excited about this episode because this is you, not Courtney Atkinson co-host of In the Beginning podcast — this is you, Courtney Atkinson,

\[00:31\] three-time winner of the Noosa Triathlon. Yep, shoot away. What do you want to ask me, Liam? Let's start with how do you reflect on being a three-time Noosa Triathlon winner? You know what, Noosa — it's funny, I think it was nearly as important in my overall career, or just as important in some aspects, as the Olympic Games. Why is that? I think Noosa is what people in Australia who don't follow

\[01:01\] triathlon outside of triathlon know. So when you're kind of — and I think three in a row, and I know Craig Walton in the men's did it before me, Ashleigh Gentle's doing it right now in the women's, winning a lot more than three — Snowy, Emma Snowsill, had done it too. I think having some consistency at that Noosa event, the people who go up there, but then also the more mainstream media started to get to know you, and that really was a driving force. But for me to be able to make a career out of triathlon,

\[01:31\] and then obviously the Olympic Games and everything else adds to it — for me, Noosa has always been the pillar of endurance sport here in Australia. We're going to unpack lots about the races you won, the ones you didn't, what you think of Noosa as an event now as well. But was it always, as you came through the system and got identified and put into that talent pathway and started getting the opportunity to go overseas and race — was it always there as a box to check, that I have to win

\[02:03\] Noosa? Yep. Well, if you wanted to be known in triathlon in Australia, you had to win Noosa. It was as simple as that. But the story goes back a long time before that. As a kid doing triathlon, back at 14 or 15, I'd go to Noosa just to watch, just hoping one day I could emulate the guys who were racing at the time. I'd be watching Brad Bevan, and I think Greg Welch would turn up — those were the days when

\[02:33\] Robbie McEwen was cycling in the criterium. You know, the biggest names in endurance sport — Steve Moneghetti would be there. The biggest names in endurance sport would all be there, and I was just a kid who'd go to Noosa, be part of the event, probably get drunk underage, roll down the hill in a wheelie bin during the night, doing all that stuff. But all I wanted to do was race. I think they wouldn't allow you to race the full event until you

\[03:04\] were 16 — right, 1998, yeah. You couldn't just go in as a kid, you had to be old enough. What's also unique about Noosa for me is they've stuck — we've talked a lot about events saturating their event with different distances, in running and triathlon, different distances over the weekend to allow more people to do it, have more events, attract a wider range. Noosa stuck to the Noosa Olympic-distance triathlon from day dot. It's unique in that

\[03:36\] respect, but it also then drives the fact that if you can win it, you're the only one for that year who wins it. Yeah, it adds so much more importance to an event when it's just the one event. It's the anti-Hyrox — there's no age group. Well, I think there is, but it doesn't have, like, coming up you've got the World Championships, which is great, in Wollongong soon, but there's a T100 event on the same weekend that will take photos. There's always something

\[04:06\] else at Noosa. You have your one running event, the 5K, you have your one cycling event, the criterium, and then — instead of cycling and running always being the big individual sports in Australia — at Noosa it's triathlon that's the most important thing of the weekend. There was always Spot Anderson — I mention Spotty a bit because he's the first person who brought me into the world of triathlon when he tried me out for my first ever race. Noosa always used to say they don't put your name up on the boards if you come second. He came second in a Noosa

\[04:37\] triathlon once, and as he said, they do not put your name up on the board — never. If he comes 20 years later, like we're going to talk about today, you're not going to hear about running around in second. Because the story before — I actually managed to win it a few times on the trot. It wasn't like it was my first go trying to win it, I'd got second before. Let's go back a few times before that. We're going to talk about your three wins, '08, '09 and 2010 — you did three on the bounce. Do you remember your first one? I don't, honestly. My memory

\[05:11\] with racing — my memory isn't great. But I can remember the time. Noosa, as an Olympic-distance race, went through a few phases where, around the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, obviously drafting came into the sport. So for those new to Noosa, you've got to leave your gap — you shouldn't be right up someone's bum on the bike. You'll learn more about this if it's your first Noosa Triathlon, when Dan Atkins breaks down the bike leg — we'll talk more technically about

\[05:41\] drafting and everything involved. Don't draft, that's pretty much it — well, I have my opinions on that, there's an argument for athletes sitting back in the pack, but I'll get to that. Now it's all about, even in the elites, they go on time-trial bikes, there's no drafting. It's one of the few races where those Olympic athletes get to go out at that race distance and race non-drafting for the year, which adds to it as well because they're all on the super-fast bikes. It did go through a few years

\[06:12\] where we went into a drafting race — Noosa became a drafting race for the elites, and that changed the race tactics a bit. Then they went back, which I think was the best move ever, back to the traditional race, because it's now — as we're talking — the second most participated triathlon in the world, behind London. There's a number of reasons for that, including just how long it's been running, but it also comes back to that notion that it's the number one endurance event

\[06:43\] I'd say mainstream people know in Australia and want to be at, because it's beautiful — it's fitness Christmas, is the way I've been describing it with people offline. The earliest I can find evidence of you racing Noosa is '99\. How'd I go? You came 24th. Oh, you could have left that one out. But things get a lot better the next year — you came second. Okay, year 2000, you finished second in the elite

\[07:17\] men's field, 14 seconds behind — I'm just trying to find who you came second to. Chris Hill — you were 14 seconds behind Chris Hill. I used to train with Chris Hill in Col Stewart's group at the time, with Miles Stewart as well, who was on the winners' list a bit earlier in the '90s. So the beauty of that era, I suppose, for me, was we were training with arguably that group — we might have had six of the top ten in the world

\[07:49\] at the time. You knew pretty much going in from training, I can win this, I can't win this. And Hilly was amazing, so consistent over that period too. He got me on the run — did he? Interestingly, no. Well, he did get you on the run, but what's interesting is you lose the race in 2000 by 14 seconds on the gun time, and Hill does you by 13 seconds on the run. So you lead him out of the swim, you've got a three-second faster swim,

\[08:20\] he's got a four-second faster bike ride, but it's all on the run. Do you know what it would have been? I'm going to take a stab here, and hopefully we get to talk to him before Noosa — the guy who's won more Noosas than I have, Craig Walton, his MO was always just swim as quick as you can, ride as fast as you can, get a big enough lead and hope no one chases you down. I was probably — it'll be interesting to hear what he thinks of it — but I recognised his Achilles heel a lot.

\[08:50\] Yeah, because I'd jump on the back of him — swimming was my strength — I'd give it balls to the wall to hang on to him. It was Russian roulette for me because I'd either blow a gasket or, in this case, nearly hang on. I'd suggest he might have been there that day. Well, it's amazing to look at — if it wasn't that year, there've been other years like that for sure, and he'd win a lot of his races like that and I'd just get blown off the back.

\[09:21\] Craig — I'm finding Craig here — Craig came 11th that year. He led you out of the swim, he's eight seconds on you in the swim, put almost a minute fifteen on you on the bike. So it wasn't one of those — he's popped on the run from an elite perspective, because he's run a 33:43\. And you're calling that popped? Well, you put three and a half minutes into him on the run — you ran a 30:14\. And you came second, and Chris Hill, who won it,

\[09:52\] ran a 30:01, which is unbelievable stuff — for those playing along at home, that's basically the speed the marathon runners just won the Sydney Marathon at. That's a three-minute-K pace. Let's put a flag on that — are you saying it's inaccurate? I'm going to say Noosa's course generally stays pretty similar over the years, but there are always little bits of changes in the

\[10:23\] transition and the maths — that seems awfully quick to me. Well, Greg Bennett, who came fourth that year, ran a 29:36 apparently, according to the results page, so — hey, take it when they give it, whatever the quickest time you can find is, whether that's Strava, your watch, whatever, take the quickest time on offer. There's a lesson for the first-timers. So you go from a 24th-place finish in 2000, you turn up and get pipped by 14 seconds again, then in 2001 you come back and

\[10:55\] miss out by 9 seconds to Paul Amey — he was pretty much an Aussie but raced for Great Britain. Back-to-back second places — do you remember the feeling of finishing second? No, to be really frank with you, I don't, but I'm imagining it's like, god, if it's the same guy beating you every year, you can kind of go, okay. But when you start getting beaten by a different person each year, it starts to become a habit. Now, this man's going to come up a lot throughout the series — do you want to know what the swim

\[11:27\] splits were for that 2001 year where you came runner-up again? Tipping Craig Walton's going to get a mention — Craig Walton came in seventh overall in the race with a 16:44 swim, Courtney Atkinson 16:45, and no one else under 16 minutes. That's the year I'm thinking of — you tapped his toes for the 1.5K swim, you two came out with a clear lead. What did Craig do on the bike? Craig put 40 seconds into you on the bike, but then when you hit the run, he ran a 35:22 and you ran a 32:19.

\[12:01\] Yeah, and where Paul Amey caught up on you is he put over a minute into you on the run with a 31:17\. You know, this hasn't changed — we're talking a long time ago now, but it hasn't changed today — you've got to work out the pie, the swim, the bike, the run. It's not who runs the fastest, not who rides the fastest, not who swims the fastest — it's who works out how to put it all together best. And that race sounds like exactly that. Talk to me about your pie.

\[12:32\] My pie — breakdown your split? I always look at it this way: especially in a non-drafting race, the bike is so important because that's where you're spending most of your time out there. So to keep it simple — I know times have moved on since — let's just say on average, for a two-hour Olympic-distance triathlon, you've got a 20-minute swim, a one-hour ride and a 40-minute run.

\[13:04\] Now to some people that might be really quick, but that's what good age-groupers are aiming for. Would you think the two-hour mark for the Olympic-distance triathlon is kind of like the three-hour mark for the marathon? I'd say the two-hour mark is harder to attain than a three-hour marathon — let us know out there what you reckon, that's personal opinion. But 20 minutes, one hour, 40 minutes running, put it into a pie like that — if you just look at it purely on time spent in each sport, if you want to make

\[13:36\] the best inroads, get on the bike — you've got more time out there to do it. What the bike also does for you, if you're stronger and can go faster without cooking yourself, it always then makes it easier to get off and run. First-hand experience of this for me: my best-ever bike at Noosa was followed by one of my worst runs, because I spent all my petrol tickets on the bike, felt like I was flying, and then didn't do the maths — that energy spent means you have less of it to spend on the run.

\[14:09\] And when you get into that suburban section on the run, around the back streets of Noosa, with no energy, that's a horrible place. Yeah, definitely found that out some years too. So that's your pie chart — I think it's a good one for everybody to listen to. Let's go back to your racing career a little. You have those two runner-up finishes and then you kind of disappear from the race for a bit. Yeah, well, the Olympic Games took over, so — was that an easy decision to make, of

\[14:39\] like, well, I need to focus on the Olympics now? Yeah, well, the sport of triathlon in Australia just changed. If you go back pre-Sydney 2000, triathlon as a whole — except for the Hawaii Ironman and a few overseas races — the bulk of what professionals were able to do in Australia existed here. You didn't really have to travel, you could race on TV and make money in shorter races during the year, then go off and race Noosa and other races around it.

\[15:11\] You really didn't have to leave Australia too much. Then when the Olympics came around, I suppose everyone wanted to make the Olympic team — that was the big goal, and suddenly triathlon in the Olympics was the new goal. A lot of that revolved around racing in Europe to get points, to qualify and do all that. When you're racing in Europe, that meant the bulk of where you were trying to focus was on the Australian winter, and you'd be overseas in the European summer. By the time you finished up

\[15:42\] there, a lot of the time you'd either be coming back to finish Worlds overseas or you just needed a break. So was there ever a part of you, as you started to move into your professional career, thinking, this is my job, I need to maximise earning potential, I need to accumulate points to qualify for the Olympic Games, but in the back of your mind there is — at some point I need to go back and win Noosa? A hundred percent, if

\[16:12\] there's business unfinished, you've got to scratch that itch. I think the change happened, it was just pure scheduling. Around 2008, around the Beijing Olympics — because the Games were in Beijing, a lot more focus was on being home and training, because you could just fly up to Beijing to race. I tactically spent a lot more time at home during that period, and we'd go up and race the test event the year before I qualified for the Olympic Games. One year out, race the test

\[16:45\] event — I think it was a year out, yeah — race the test event, go well there, then try and emulate it the following year, because you're at home training and the structure of the year's a bit different. They started to allow a bit more focus on finishing the season and doing Noosa as well. So I think that's where you see the ebbs and flows of different results throughout that time. Let's talk about 2000 — you see someone like Ashleigh Gentle, who races all year but comes back and races Noosa.

\[17:15\] Whereas someone like Matt Hauser — I know he's raced a few, but last year, for example, he came home and rested. So the scheduling of what you're doing in the sport, obviously — but this year, though, is going to be different. Why is that? We're hearing on the grapevine — inside information at this stage is telling us that because the World Champs are in Wollongong, but not too far before this event, I think a few weeks — and the T100 is also on in

\[17:47\] Wollongong at the same time, there's going to be a good cohort of internationals who don't want to hang around. So Noosa this year could be one of the biggest, most competitive races at the pointy end for a long, long time — which is amazing, and adds to the spectator element of the race itself. I want to go back to 2008 — and apologies if you're sitting there listening, because I know for a fact, when we started this podcast, In the Beginning,

\[18:17\] not this series but the whole podcast, James Hooper — he's part of Anthony Gordon's running crew — said to me, do you know how long I've tried to find interviews Courtney's done? He just doesn't talk about his career. So I apologise if you're out there going, oh, ask him this, ask him that, and I apologise if I miss anything — I'm going to try and hit as much as I possibly can, Courtney, because people want to know about your career, even if you can't remember it. Let's go back to 2008 — you're the only one who's pulled

\[18:47\] it out, so let's go back to 2008\. This is spoiler, this is the first year you win Noosa, which is in late October, but let's go back two or three months to August — you're in Beijing competing at your first Olympic Games, and you finish 11th. Building up to the Olympics, how was that race? It was good — in the sense that on the run-in to the Olympics, nothing went wrong.

\[19:18\] But I was expecting to medal. So it did go wrong? It went really wrong — training was good, everything was good, and I came away with 11th. Sometimes you just have to — it's interesting, because a lot of people had probably been involved with me over the years up to that point, and in sport there's so much you can do to go, well, it's a disaster, right, you didn't get the result

\[19:49\] for the country, for all the people who put effort into you and everything else. But I honestly walked away that day kind of going, I still ran quicker than I did at the test event — I still went quicker, the field had just moved another level above me for that Olympic year. Everything went really well. I tell this story a lot around ice baths — people would have heard me tell it before, talking about it now — you've

\[20:19\] reminded me. When I came back three months later to win Noosa, the only change I made between the Olympic Games and Noosa Triathlon was I stopped ice bathing. I was religiously ice bathing in winter every session, going through the protocols we were told, got that result, and then went, no, this is way too painful, there's no way I'm ice bathing again. And then came out at Noosa and raced amazing.

\[20:49\] So you'd probably go, well, I probably mistimed the Olympic race a little bit, if you look back and really want to pick at it. But like I said, it wasn't a disaster, it just wasn't the result that was expected. So can we work through that two-and-a-half months in between? You finished 11th at your first Olympic Games and, as you say, nothing went wrong, but you didn't get the result people expected. I might be testing you —

\[21:19\] did you race in between? You're testing my memory. But do you remember thinking — was there any sense of needing to atone for not medalling at the Olympics, at Noosa? I reckon I probably rolled off the Olympics, probably had a bit of a break, and then — you know, someone like Emma Snowsill would have won a gold there, I can't remember if she raced Noosa that year, but I'd say she would have gone off it.

\[21:49\] She did race, she won it that year. I'll take that back then, I thought she might have gone away on celebrations and done all that. But the thing is, as much as the Olympic Games is the Olympic Games, it was a profession for all of us as well, so you rolled onto the next thing. I can't speak for Snowy there, but Noosa is important — we'll talk to some of the elite athletes before this year's race about what their mindset is around it,

\[22:19\] but for me, I know at that time Noosa helped give me a career in this sport in Australia. So what do you remember of the 2008 race, winning it — do you remember the feeling of crossing the line? Yeah, I reckon I would have been absolutely ecstatic. What I do remember is that Noosa finish-line photo — they haven't really changed it, and again, that's what makes these events that have run for so long

\[22:50\] so special. The finish line — maybe the colours have changed slightly, whatever, but it's actually the same finish, the same boxed finish that thousands of people go through every year, and everyone gets their photo at that finish line, except the winner gets to hold up the tape. If you googled Noosa winners, you'd see a history of people who've won that, and that's what I remember Noosa by — like, oh, that's the race suit I wore that

\[23:22\] year. If you said to me 2008, I'd take a gamble and say I was racing in an Orca suit that actually looked like an Orca print — I'm talking Orca like the sea animal. I'm doing my best to have a look and find something for you. Then there's another suit I wore, which I've talked about on the podcast before, kind of like an Iron Man-style suit, where it looks like the

\[23:53\] muscles — the pistons suit — and I would have worn that in the later years at Noosa. The only reason I know that is because Subaru, who were sponsor of Noosa at the time and have been a long-term partner of mine, put me on the bike news with my mouth open, going, he looks like he's a turbo or something, and I was in that suit. I found it — I found the image of you and Emma Snowsill both holding the tape aloft. You're both in — what are we in? I'll show you, it's not a finish

\[24:25\] photo of you, but it's both of you at the finish line. So that's 2008 — I wouldn't have picked that. We're actually in ITU standard suits, similar to footy or whatever, where you had to have your logos in certain spots, had to have the ITU logo on you — no commercial branding of your own. Okay, so can we talk then — if you win Noosa,

\[24:55\] do you remember what the next 12 months is like for you as a professional? You've scratched the itch, ticked the box. Summer just goes back into paradise-training mode — we would have finished Noosa, probably taken two weeks completely off, gone on holidays, chilled out, I guess. I'm not so much asking from a what's-next perspective, but mentally, was there any sense of —

\[25:25\] satisfaction, that it's a job? There was nothing — I mean, I'm sure we celebrated it, but you're on to the next thing. To be honest, we would have been in Olympic cycles then, so it would have gone straight to building towards the London Olympic Games. You'd go back into a cycle of progressing through Olympic-distance races and what that looks like. But the key thing, and I know this now even with how I approach my racing and recreational sport, is the

\[25:57\] big difference between racing at the elite level and turning up and racing for what we can call recreation — you still want to do well, but it's not your profession. When it's your profession, you're very periodised and focused on when to race and when the season is. You'd stop, reset, go through a massive build, a base build, build your miles up, do a whole easy, very focused long-mileage phase, and

\[26:28\] then build into a scheduled race block for the next season. That's what's different to the average person racing — you might get ready for Noosa if it's your first one and put eight weeks into it, that's fine, but those doing sport over the whole year probably don't realise how much periodisation, having ebbs and flows during a season and making sure you get the right rest, is actually what makes you

\[26:58\] go better in the end. It's not the racing, racing, racing — which in running we're seeing so many people do — an event just doesn't give you the time to absorb what you're doing and get to a new level. Well, it's what Michael Shelley's talked to us about, the fact that he'd race a marathon and then go on a holiday and give himself that time off, whereas the hobby joggers go straight on to the next thing. That's probably the biggest thing I remember about those times — when you're off, you're off, and when you're on, it's your job.

\[27:30\] It's your job, that's a great way to think about it. I've found you racing so interesting — it looks like in 2008 you're rolling with the Red Bull visor, whereas in 2009 I think I've found the Orca suit you're referring to, with the Red Bull cap. So Red Bull, representing you from then still to this day. But it's interesting — as I flip back through the archives here, this is an article ahead of the 2010 race, because you go on to win

\[28:01\] 2009 as well. Do you remember anything about defending the title, any pressure, anything extra about having to defend the Noosa crown? Not until the fourth year — we'll get to that in a second. So you turn up in 2009 as the defending champion, probably a little bit more extra responsibility, or not even pressure for you, but eyeballs on you. I reckon we were probably pretty confident by then, egotistic even. And I do remember

\[28:35\] going into the fourth — Noosa did, and still do, a great job of building up the event and building the athletes and who's coming, and all that. At the time it was really only Craig Walton, Emma Snowsill and probably Emma Carney who'd taken that kind of streak of winning in a row. So as you kept winning each year, it was like, oh, you know,

\[29:07\] eventually it's going to stop. Well, it did stop at four — can I read you a bit of this article ahead of the 2010 race? Forgive me for not knowing it better, but it looks as though Craig Walton was making something of a comeback in that race — 2007 was his sixth Noosa victory, and you're going for your third in a row. Obviously, by the tone of the article, it suggests Craig had made a comeback to competitive racing, talking about dropping the weight and getting back into race shape.

\[29:40\] This is a quote from Craig: 'Courtney is definitely the danger man, his running has stepped up to another level so it'll be tough to beat him, but not impossible.' And this is the bit I like: 'Courtney is chasing his third win in a row here, and seeing I am the only man to have achieved that so far, I would like to keep it that way, so I'll be doing my best to stop him.' So there was that egotistical aspect to it, of Craig, the only man to go three in a row, wanting to

\[30:10\] stop you that year specifically. Yeah, a hundred percent. And it's interesting, as you've talked about, historically before you'd won these races, you would swim off Craig — his racing suited me, the advantage of having Craig in the race would advantage me, and I suppose his job was to get rid of me so I couldn't get the free ride around the course and then obviously run. But the good thing with me and Craig was we're of a similar age, I suppose —

\[30:43\] there's maybe five years between us, so we grew up in different age groups racing as young kids. I always looked up to him, so there was never a head-to-head rivalry as such — as much as I wanted to win the races, I never had that head-to-head thing with him. I'd love to sit here and tell him how many times I reckon I've ruined his race —

\[31:15\] so many times. I remember very clearly racing in Stockholm, Sweden, of all places, getting out of the water and just tagging onto the back of him in a drafting race, but not being strong enough to ride around him as a kid, and just going, sorry mate, I can't do anything. And he never once had a bad word to say to me about it, either. It's funny, in hindsight, when you're out of sport, you can look at everything and go, oh wow, I was a little

\[31:46\] so-and-so. If you're sitting there listening to this and you're a first-timer learning a bit about the race and what's involved, what Courtney's talking about there — the idea of sitting on someone's shoulder and not doing any work — can you just explain a little bit? Well, everyone's watched the Tour de France, right? It's like treating someone in the race like a domestique. I wasn't doing it on purpose, I just literally wasn't strong enough to help. But eventually, everyone who watches cycling knows it's a lot easier to sit behind someone, and then when you've got the faster run, it's not going to work in

\[32:19\] your favour — but a lot of the time trying to hang on, I just blew up as well, so there were plenty of races where we came back to each other. This is 2010 — Craig, by the looks of it, comes out of the water first with Josh Amberger, you're about 16 seconds behind. Again, Craig has a really strong bike ride, so I'm guessing he's probably leading off the bike, and then he runs a 36-something where you put four minutes

\[32:50\] into him on the run, and it's a close finish between you and Chris Gemmell — Chris Gemmell finishes 12 seconds behind you, and Chris Gemmell now, around the ITU and the World Championships, is one of the guys who helps run it. So again, you don't remember much about the second win — what do you remember about winning the third? The thing that stands out, one thing I do remember, was in

\[33:24\] that third win, I crashed on a roundabout — coming back into town, the second one of the roundabouts, I forget what the place is in Noosaville, as you turn the hard right. For those who've never raced it before, there are some sharp right turns, and it was slick on the day, a bit of water, and I'd just come around the corner, overcooked it, and went down. All I can recall is a

\[33:58\] volunteer picking up my sunglasses and handing them back to me at the end of the race — I said, hey, there's a souvenir. Forget triathlon, it's just funny, must have got up quick, it's funny what things stick with you. So I haven't got a great race memory, as we've worked out — you might have the worst race memory, but what I do have a good memory for is unique moments.

\[34:29\] Yeah, that's the thing — if you were to sit here and talk to someone like Miles Stewart, who's won the race and who I trained with, he'll be able to recall nearly every single step of a race. He'll tell you, remember back in whatever year, I got half a step ahead of you, or you clipped my wheel on the bike and we went down. He'll remember everything.

\[35:00\] I'll remember things like, I was drunk in a van trying to moon out the side of the car and I fell over, and Greg Welch was next to me. I remember the volunteer picking up my sunglasses after a crash on the bike — those unique little things I remember, but that's the thing that makes things special. Sean McVay, the coach — for enemy NFL fans out there, the head coach of the LA Rams — has a very cool party trick that's also incredibly useful for his job, where he can remember

\[35:32\] every play of every game. If you ask him what play he called on third down in round four against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two seasons ago, he can tell you. That is pretty helpful, and it's pretty much the game, isn't it? People's memories work differently. Not to harp on it, but you must have got up pretty quickly from the crash, because you still rode a 56:40 on the bike, and there's not

\[36:04\] many in that top ten — Paul Matthews that year ran a 56:03, so beyond that, there's not many people who rode faster than you, you've had a good bike leg. I think the beauty of it, going back, is the three wins — there's been so many people even since then, I go up every year, we're involved every year at Noosa and have been for the last decade, and new champions

\[36:34\] come in, there's a different race every year. Like we talked about the pie — I remember two years ago watching Hayden Wilde and Matt Hauser battle it out, that was probably one of my favourite Noosa races, when we get the best internationals here. That, to me, is when Noosa's back on the map, and it's not just an

\[37:04\] Australian focus, it's one of the global focuses. You couple that with the participation, and that's what makes Noosa, Noosa. Let's talk about the race more broadly — you've raced all over the world, you're essentially a race organiser here locally with Race the Sun, you've done not only triathlons but adventure races too. What makes events great, what makes mass-participation events work, and what else could Noosa do? Look, the

\[37:39\] Gold Coast Marathon series brought about this halfway-house concept which, by all reports, might happen next year — so this is an opportunity for the people at Noosa Triathlon and Ironman Australia to be tuning in and getting some ideas. What were the opportunities for the Noosa Triathlon to expand, to grow, to try something new? Well, to look at the opportunities, you've got to first look at why it works so well in the first place, and that's history, location, and I think the people who

\[38:15\] keep coming back to the race — you don't hear of too many events where you have to nearly book your accommodation as you leave the event one year to guarantee you've got it again for the next year. Want a quick story? For me, I did ten Noosa Tris, stayed in a range of different places, and then three years ago we stumbled upon this place on

\[38:48\] Gympie Terrace in Noosaville and booked it. Then we discovered that, because part of the logistical puzzle that is Noosa is getting in there on the morning of the race — you can't park anywhere, good luck driving in, you need someone to drop you off — we stumbled upon the ferry. My wife Alana and I caught the ferry one year and it was like a light-bulb moment, we're like, this is it, we've found our spot.

\[39:18\] And the people who run this motel are fantastic — I won't give it away because I don't want everyone to know about it — but we've been going there for three years now, and they always give us first right of refusal on the accommodation. So, to your point, yeah, I book my accommodation every year before I get my entry to the race. So what drives you to go back each year, given you've done ten?

\[39:48\] How many have you done, I don't know, but somewhere around there. We go back every year, and it's become logistically easier since we moved to the Gold Coast — it was harder when we were in Sydney, having to put the bikes on the plane and all that. I'm going to tease people through to the cycling episode with Dan Atkins — if you're out there thinking about hiring a bike up in Noosa, I'm not warning you off it, I'm just saying there's a story coming. I go back every year because, even with the marathons and adventure races I've

\[40:20\] done, Noosa Triathlon has the best atmosphere of any event, any weekend, that I've ever been a part of — the overall atmosphere and vibe of the town, not the race, over those three days we're usually up there, Friday through Sunday, heading off on the Monday. It's light, it's filled with excitement, you can almost reach out and touch the endorphins of the people. It's just

\[40:53\] fitness Christmas, because everybody who's there, whether they're competing or not, has been doing some sort of training to be a part of it — there's anticipation for the friend or family member who might be racing, and for the athletes, whether it's just the run, the criterium, the swim or the full triathlon, whatever it is, this is the victory lap. We talked about this with the marathons — the race is the victory lap. That's what Noosa brings, it's like, I imagine, for drivers, an F1 Grand Prix day.

\[41:24\] It's like, great, now I get to have fun, this is what I get paid to do, this is the fun part. And you're around your clan for the weekend, around like-minded people. For us as well, I like taking my kids to that sort of event because I think it teaches them, whether directly or indirectly, that exercise is great, fitness is great, being active and healthy and outside is great, and I reckon Noosa has the ability to teach that to kids. I agree with you on

\[41:55\] location and all that sort of stuff — so how can you make it better? It's a good question, you can't fit more people there, it's jammed. Can I throw something at you? Of course, I knew you'd have something up your sleeve — the beach club, this is the opportunity I see for Noosa, because the surf club is iconic, and it's — I don't want to say it's topped out, but you can't fit any

\[42:27\] more people in there. Everyone's going to find their way to a beer at some point, and what Noosa needs to figure out is how to create a spillover area down onto the sand at Main Beach — Noosa Main Beach is where the whole thing starts, with the swim, and it's also where so much happens, it's a vibe, it's a hub. I'd love to see them create a spillover area, an individual or separate beach club —

\[42:58\] there are that many corporate partners and sponsors who'd want to attach their name to it. You find a way to create a secondary hub that's not just the surf club on the Sunday. Well, that has been done, Liam, down at the — where the expo is now, hold on, it's too far, the expo's too far away to turn into a hub post-race. Great expo pre-race, but post-race, too far away? Yep. Find a way to create a secondary hub near the surf club to continue the vibe.

\[43:30\] They did some functions down on the beach, but they were all fancy functions — no, no, I'll be honest, I enjoy — I'm prepared to call it what it is, the great unwashed, the general public, the average racer, the hobby joggers, the part-time athletes, we don't get allowed in behind the pearly gates of these events, Courtney. All right, I'm saying you and your fancy events, you and James Tobin and Rady and, you know, all you fancy types get to go to — but create a secondary hub post-race, so it's not all living and dying by

\[44:03\] the surf club. We talk a lot about activations, and one of the best, I can't remember which coffee brand did it, but one year, when you warmed up in the swim, they had a pontoon out there with a coffee cart on it — not in the ocean, sorry — well, actually yes, in the ocean, you'd swim out to the pontoon to get your coffee in the morning. That was one of the all-time best activations I'd seen.

\[44:35\] Someone will recall who did it, whether it was that coffee brand or someone else, but that was probably one of the most unique and interesting activations. I like it — look, but I think the general consensus is there's not a lot you can do to improve Noosa, it's just a terrifically run event, and that's why I just told you the reasons why it's so successful — you don't want to change it, there's history and heritage. I want to know which run is, because obviously there's

\[45:07\] the other events that draw the crowds on the Saturday too, besides seeing you out there in the Legends race — running and cycling. This year I'd be interested to see the running, because it's still quite a key event on the running calendar, it still holds a place where we get some of the best 5Ks in Australia, both male and female, coming into town to show their wares. It's always an exciting day.

\[45:37\] I think the thing I saw last year in the Legends race in particular, and I don't know how much of this is Ironman Australia and how much is just the event being a drawcard for people, was Scott Pendlebury being there and you got to run against him — put it up on the reel. Arguably the greatest ever player in Collingwood history, still rolling around at 37, he'll go past the all-time record for games played in the AFL next year.

\[46:09\] I think that might be a way — not that they need to make it bigger or more prestigious, but he was introduced in the Legends race as 'Sconce Pendlebury', or was it 'Scott Pendlebrooks'? I think that's how he was introduced, which goes to show the lack of awareness of AFL up in that part of the world, beyond Brisbane. I bet the crowd just went, okay, Scott Pendlebrooks, don't know who that is. Maybe the next stage is

\[46:40\] getting more crossover, because obviously the NRL boys get a tremendous reception, Benny Hannon, former Clydesdale winner, there's a lot of support there, but maybe it's other personalities they could find a way to bring in. I'll tell you a unique, surreal story from last year — I was meant to go and ride in the charity ride on the Saturday morning, yep. And as we know, I said I don't have a road bike I can ride, so Noosa had gone to the extent of organising someone to bring a

\[47:12\] bike for me. Cycling shoes on, helmet on, walking down — I was up the hill a little bit — I get a phone call: we don't need you, Courtney. And I'm like, that's one, good, I wasn't really that keen to ride, but two, I would because it's part of what we do down there. Anyway, the story was Richie Porte had flatted — flatted on his only wheel on the way to the charity ride — and they pulled rank and said, we need your wheel for Richie.

\[47:44\] I said, look, what can I do, I'll go and have a coffee. Yeah, let him have it — this is, of course, my old mate Richie Porte, who helped me pump up my tyres last year, or the year before, in the Legends race, as he saw me doing it, and asked if I wanted a hand, asked what PSI I wanted. I said whatever you think, Richie, whatever you want to do. So that's my story with Richie, last year and before —

\[48:14\] because I do want to round this out with a few more questions, like, on top of the wins, any other moments when you think about Noosa — with the family up there, or reflecting post a win, or one of the runner-up finishes, or a dreadful race — any other moments that spring to mind when you think about Noosa as an event? Probably more from when I was younger, first getting involved, or doing well enough that I'd get invited behind the scenes to the launch nights and that type of thing, and the athletes who'd be at those launches, they

\[48:44\] said, Dawn Fraser would just be standing there. Steve Moneghetti, all of that crew, that as a kid I was watching on TV — I knew the triathletes because I'd grown up with them, but it was all the other sports where I'd think, holy hell, these people are hanging around. As the years went by and you became more intertwined with the event and where it is today, you turn up to those functions and it's like the people you look forward to seeing and saying g'day to, it's like

\[49:15\] Christmas each year, really — to tag on there, Dawn Fraser started me at one of the Noosas, she was on the start line down on the water for the swim, as your unofficial starter for the race. That, in itself, is an incredible thrill — to run across the line and have Dawn Fraser, one of the greats of swimming, there. Yeah, that's definitely, like I said, the sports event in this space that we all know. Hidden tricks — yep, let's finish

\[49:45\] this off talking, taking your experience as a three-time winner of this event, and try to bring some tips and tricks for people racing this year. First of all, advice to first-timers, the first time they've ever raced Noosa: like every endurance sport, don't go out too hard — it's so simple, it's endurance, you're going to be out there for two, three, four hours,

\[50:19\] you're going to slow down, so don't stress about time early on, that's the biggest piece of advice for a race. And take your time, especially — I talked a lot about getting off the bike, but the majority of the incidents I've seen at Noosa, in the later years watching from the sidelines, is people getting over-excited trying to get out of transition and onto their bike, losing shoes, falling off, clipping wheels, all of that. If you're out there and your goal is just to have a good day, just take your

\[50:49\] time — in the end, not rushing is actually quicker than rushing through it. And that's the same advice even for the most elite of the elite, because I can't tell them what they can do swimming or riding, that's done well before the event. But the small differences are made or lost in those seconds when you least expect it, in the transitions. You can lose ten seconds in the swim,

\[51:22\] and to make that ten seconds up in the swim, you literally have to redline yourself. But to get out of the water and up the beach that little bit quicker, you can make that ten seconds up in an instant, just by making sure you've got the process down when you get into transition. I think this was always something I really trained — knowing exactly the process I'd go through. Do you remember?

\[51:52\] Before I got to the bike, the first thing you touch is your helmet. Most people, especially first-timers, think, I'll get to my bike and start doing whatever I need to do — take my swim goggles off, whatever — but the first thing I'm doing is getting my swim goggles off, and if I'm wearing a swim skin, which a lot of people do these days, I've already got it down to my knees, ready to strip off, I don't need my hands for that, I can use my feet. But it's helmet on and buckled first, before I even think about anything else, because once that's done, the rest looks after

\[52:24\] itself. That process, you're thinking about it before you even get to the bike — it's about being calm under pressure. I know this might test your brain, but let's go through the Courtney Atkinson transition, step by step, because I've never had a step-by-step transition plan for a triathlon before. So for people out there doing it the first time, or people who've done it multiple times but, like me,

\[52:56\] never had a transition plan — let's go, helmet on. This is swim to bike, helmet on, but it starts before that, it's actually how you set your bike up in the rack. So the first thing you need to do is identify your bike — I know over the years people try everything, tie balloons on it, Dan said the other day he pumped up a balloon which is now out the door, don't even bother, apparently there was a big deal about it. But I always think, and this is the same in the swim, landmarks are so important. Let's go back to the

\[53:26\] swim before the transition — landmarks are important. If you're sighting in the swim and you come around, you're looking for the buoy, and you should have already looked before you got in the water — that buoy's there, and behind that buoy there's a building, or a lamppost, or something large enough I can sight on to know which direction I'm going. It's the same in transition — everyone will say, I'm in Rack D, but when you're running along quickly, or you're in D, E, F or whatever, I'm

\[53:57\] looking for a tree, an identifiable tree, and I know I'm the third rack past that tree. As I'm running down that rack, I'm looking for identifiable spots, more landmarks. Then, somehow, I want something on my bike itself that I recognise too. This is hard — okay, helmet, if I can keep that helmet on my bike safely, I want it at arm's length, so if I want to make the transition as fast as possible, I don't have to bend over. Helmet on the bike first, anything I can get off myself and

\[54:29\] drop straight away as I'm running, that's already done, ready to go. But you're also thinking through that process as you're running in — that's the key. You get there, the swim skin is off if you're wearing one, helmet on, goggles are gone, as is the cap, helmet is on. Now this comes down to where you are — if you're a beginner and you feel more comfortable putting your shoes on in transition, that's the time to do it. You get your helmet on and start getting your shoes on in transition before you run out.

\[54:59\] Most people these days attach their shoes to the bike — I'm sure if you go on YouTube you'll find all the different ways people attach shoes to the bike safely, so as you're running out they're not springing around or popping off. But really, that swim-to-bike transition at Noosa, there's not much to it — helmet on, get the bike, run out calmly, safely get on. Just don't get too excited early on, first-timers especially.

\[55:31\] If you've never clipped your shoes into your bike outside of transition — if you haven't ever clipped them in while the bike's racked — don't try it on the day, don't make it your first try. Here's another one — if it's your first Noosa Tri, put socks on. If you've never raced without them, put socks on, because if you think about how long it takes to put socks on versus how long you're about to spend on that bike. But also, this comes

\[56:03\] down to first-timers, or anyone who's just there to enjoy their day and have the best experience, because that's a lot different from the optimal approach of an elite, or someone wanting to break two hours, doing all this we're talking about to enjoy it. No socks — do you really care if you're ten seconds slower at the end of the day if you feel more comfortable? I've raced Noosa with socks and without. The year I raced without socks for the first time, by the end of the race, because I went straight off the bike plates

\[56:35\] into my runners, my feet looked like they'd been attacked by a dog — it was a horrible experience. So I'd say, if you're at all in doubt, put socks on, take the time to do it. On the flip side, I talked about rushing — the quickest way you can get through transition — but transition's also a great spot to have a rest if you're wanting to enjoy your day. If you've run out — because when you're swimming, you're in a horizontal position, then you stand up, blood flow is different — you've run into the

\[57:07\] transition and it might feel a bit funny because you've changed the plane of your body, you're puffing because you've just taken all the blood out of your arms and it's rushing down into your legs. If you need a banana, if you're going to eat something, if you're going to have a Red Bull, whatever your energy gels are, take your time there too — it's different for different people. Before we finish up, unless

\[57:37\] you've got any other final thoughts — we've talked quite a bit about your history. Well, we're going to talk about shoes another time, this isn't today teaching everyone all the ins and outs of the Noosa Triathlon — today's a one-on-one conversation with you, Courtney Atkinson the triathlete, this isn't a normal pod episode, this is you, Courtney Atkinson, three-time winner of the Noosa Triathlon. Do you remember what you won? What did you get for winning

\[58:07\] the Noosa Triathlon? I reckon I would have got twelve thousand bucks. Last year's winner, by the way, got fifteen or sixteen, so it's gone up a little bit, not a lot. Do you reckon that's equal to inflation? No, no. But was there a trophy? That's a good question — no, I think you just get a medal, could be wrong. Do you have any other — generally, when you race it professionally, that's

\[58:37\] the key thing, you get the big cheque, the novelty cheque. In the Courtney Atkinson to-be-opened-one-day museum, do you have anything Noosa related that comes to mind? If I went to the box, I think the only thing I'd have in there is — I don't know what they call it, the night before you race Noosa, each year they induct a couple of people who've given to Noosa over the years or performed well, and there'd be a bit of a

\[59:07\] trophy in there for that — cool, sort of a Hall of Fame type thing. Yeah, great, I've just remembered another question I wanted to hit before we go — favourite part of the race, least favourite part of the race? Oh, good one. Least favourite is an easy one — running around those back streets at the end of the run, just when you think you're nearly home. Dan talked about it the other day — you're at about seven K, you get over that bridge and think you're home, and then you realise, holy hell, there's a lot more, it sends you off into the back streets and it's hot, the wind

\[59:38\] doesn't get in there because of the houses, especially later in the day — tough one through there, definitely my least favourite bit. The favourite bit of the course, mate, is the downhill — how good's a downhill in the middle of a race, where you can just switch those legs off? Do you remember how fast you ever got going down there? Not as fast as some of the boys, I reckon, top speed — not as fast as some of the boys, but I'd say a high seventies, maybe touching 80\. That's so quick — and you're just

\[01:00:09\] tucking in on that, no, you're tucked, trying to tuck into the smallest ball you can, to be as aero as possible. And how hard are your legs when you have to stop pedalling? I was going to say — and then how hard are you pushing, because it flattens out, and I know I try to maintain some semblance of speed because it goes into a gradual incline off the back of that hill. How hard are you rolling to maintain that speed? Well, the way we race is with a power meter, so

\[01:00:41\] you're just trying to maintain what's dictated by the numbers. On the day you kind of know how your legs are and what you're managing as an average — this is going to really test my memory, but from recollection I'd bounce around the 340 to 370 mark, or 320 to 360, depending on the year, whether I was riding better or worse. So I wouldn't want to ride off that

\[01:01:12\] bottom of the hill and suddenly be peaking over 400 watts, you'd just go back into your zone. I realise we're about to wrap this up, but I just thought of a couple more things — you've attacked the swim with Craig Walton trying to get dragged through by him, then you get onto the bike and you're dictated by your power meter, so that's how you attack the race, whether it's up the hill or back down the decline. So then, how do you do the run — is it heart rate, or is it feel?

\[01:01:46\] It's not necessarily watching — some years I may have worn a heart-rate monitor and been watching it, but through training you know what it feels like to run just on your threshold, just under your threshold, and once you realise, I'm breathing too hard, the lactate's building, I'm going too hard, you're always running that fine line. But there's also a race tactic I employed in certain years — I can definitely recall it when I raced Chris Gemmell that year, where I purposely ran the first two to three K over pace,

\[01:02:21\] knowing I'd then have to come back to a slower pace, but it was a tactic to break — I didn't want to have to run the whole race with someone who could out-sprint me. I knew early on, this is my race, the first three K, and if I can get to the three K with a gap and be able to settle, I know I'm fit enough, and I know exactly — my goal would have been to run something like two forty-five, two fifty, two fifty-five per kilometre, and then settle

\[01:02:53\] down to three-oh-six, three-oh-seven per kilometre. So that gives someone who's thinking about their splits an idea of the kind of paces I'd run — nowadays I'm moving even quicker, boys. Well, now we'll wrap it up, because as I said, this series has got a lot more to come — we've still got more race-specific coaching to come from Dan Atkins, next week we'll be talking bike and then run, and we've still got some guests to join us, some more Noosa winners, which is going to be fun.

\[01:03:24\] Looking back now as a three-time winner, and you're not someone who puts a lot of stock in your race results, you're more forward-looking, a different approach to all this — but do you have a sense of pride as a three-time Noosa winner? Yeah, I do, of course. Like we began the episode this way, we'll finish it this way — the Noosa Triathlon is still key, if not the key event

\[01:03:54\] on the Australian endurance calendar, and I can't see it going anywhere, it's still booming. In the Beginning Podcast runs the Noosa Triathlon — I hope you're enjoying it, share it with people in your world who are into triathlon or might be interested in getting involved. And next week in the series, Dan Atkins returns as we break down how to best attack the 40K bike ride that is the Noosa Triathlon.