Happy FriYAY Team!
15 YEARS OF MULTISPORT GOLD 💛💙💚
This weekend we celebrate 15 years of Multisport Gold.
Wow… 15 years. How on earth did that happen?!
When I look back over those 15 years, I do so with an enormous sense of pride. Not just pride in what we have achieved, but pride in the journey that got us here.
I can still clearly remember those very early days. There were three swim squads at CAC, were we only had three lanes, and some sessions there might have been just one person turn up. We ran track and brick sessions with the good old wind trainers on the CAC grass track, with lights scattered around the lanes in winter so we could actually see what we were doing! We had hill sessions at Tamworth Drive in Helensvale, and there were definitely weeks when no one showed up at all.
And if I’m being completely honest, there were plenty of times when I doubted myself. I questioned my career choice. I wondered whether this coaching gig was actually going to work.
But then something happened.
One person became two. Two became four. Slowly, quietly and very surely, the numbers started to grow. And somewhere along the way, Multisport Gold became much more than a squad.
We found parkrun and discovered how much we loved being part of our wider community. We set course records and age-category records. We created On Tour. We have watched people cross finish lines they once thought were completely beyond them — from their very first sprint-distance triathlon through to qualifying for the Kona World Championships.
And when you think about the adventures we have had… runs, trails, triathlons, ultras, marathons, the English Channel — we really have had a crack at just about everything!
We’ve had some pretty special people share their knowledge with us too, with Brad Kahlefeldt, Brenton Ford and Duncan Armstrong all joining us for sessions over the years.
For a small club, we have achieved an awful lot. But you know what?
The achievements aren’t actually what make me the proudest.
What makes me proud is us.
It’s the energy. It’s the support. It’s the compassion. It’s the laughter and the ridiculous banter.
It’s the person waiting at the finish line for someone else. It’s the high fives, the coffees, the celebrations, the tough conversations and the “come on, you’ve got this” moments. It’s the friendships that started because two people happened to stand in the same lane one morning and, somewhere along the way, became lifelong friends.
It’s watching someone achieve something they never believed they could — and seeing the whole squad celebrate as though it happened to all of us.
Because in so many ways, it did.
Fifteen years ago, I was standing on a grass track with a handful of people, some wind trainers and a whole lot of hope, wondering if this thing would actually work.
I don’t think I could have imagined what it would become.
I couldn’t have imagined the people we would meet, the places we would race, the finish lines we would cross, the stories we would tell, or the friendships that would last long after the training session had finished.
And perhaps that is the greatest achievement of all.
We didn’t just build a triathlon squad. We built a community.
A place where people can challenge themselves, be themselves, have a laugh, chase crazy goals, pick each other up when things don’t go to plan and celebrate the wins — big and small — together.
So this weekend, I hope we take a moment to celebrate all of it.
The first session. The empty lanes. The early mornings. The crazy races. The records. The adventures. The finish lines. The friendships. The people who have come and gone.
And most of all, the people who are here now.
Because 15 years isn’t really about a number.
It’s about the thousands of moments, the hundreds of people and the countless memories that have made Multisport Gold what it is today.
Thank YOU for being part of the journey.
Here’s to 15 years of showing up, having a crack, supporting each other, laughing until our stomachs hurt, chasing things we once thought impossible — and creating something pretty damn special along the way.
Happy 15th Birthday, Multisport Gold.
Here’s to the next chapter.
Live Boldly. 💛💙💚
Coach Alli |
