From the 28th to the 29th of May I made my way up to Noosa to volunteer at the Noosa Ultimate Sports Festival with my TAFE events class. I’d been excited to work at the event for the whole week, however reality hit when I had to wake up at 4am. I made my way up on Saturday morning in the pitch darkness preparing myself for the large day ahead. As I arrived in Noosa at 5am I couldn’t believe how many people were already up and ready to start the event. Finally, the sun started to rise and the event was full steam ahead.
The first event to take place was the swim, over 1000 competitors flooded down to the beach to take part in this spectacular event. I had the task of writing the competitors numbers on their arms and legs and wishing them luck on their race. Laughing with friends, being in the sun and looking at the spectacular view, for a minute I didn’t think it could get any better, until Chris Brown from Bondi Vet walked up to me. I was completely surprised and tried to wipe the massive grin off my face. This was definitely going to be a day to remember.
Once the majority of the competitors had their numbering completed, a group of girls and myself headed down to the finish line to help the swimmers get the timing chips from them. This was a great opportunity as I got to talk to the swimmers, see who won the race and congratulate them on their swim. The first person I got to talk to was a gentleman competing in the 1km swim. He told me of how happy he was with his swim, how spectacular the water was and thanked me for volunteering for the event. Throughout the whole day these were the comments and thanks I continued to receive. Before I knew it 11:30 had come and all of the swimming events had been completed. It was now time to pack down and head over to do registration for the cycle and run. Over 2000 competitors came and collected their packs, the excitement for the cycle and run races was gradually building up and by 5pm everyone was excited for the next day’s events.
The next day was a 3am early rise filled with hot chocolates and coffees. The competitors started to roll in on their bikes and we started to complete the last registrations and get all of the runners and cyclists on their way for their race. As the sun started to come up the races began to roll out. First the cyclists and then the runners. Some of my class mates and myself were lucky enough to see some of the races starting. It was a great thing to see and was very memorable. The atmosphere, determination and persistence from these athletes was an amazing thing to witness and one day I would love to be able to say that I had competed in the Noosa Ultimate Sports Festival myself!
by Aileen Moore – Study Sunshine Coast Student Ambassador
