Ashleigh Gentle claimed a 10th Noosa Triathlon victory in a row on Sunday as the Aussie superstar wowed the home crowds yet again.
The 33-year-old, now starring at longer distances in the new T100 series, proved she still has the speed to cut it over the Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) with a comfortable success, her 11th in total in the iconic race.
More than 8,000 athletes in total took part in what is an annual showpiece event for triathlon in Queensland, but it was Gentle who took top billing by coming home just over a minute in front of Richelle Hill with Paris 2024 Olympian Natalie Van Coevorden in third.
Brayden Mercer meanwhile claimed victory in the race for Elite Men, notching an impressive success on his Noosa debut, finishing more than 30 seconds clear of New Zealand’s Tayler Reid, with former champion Luke Willian just behind in third.
Elite Women – Gentle too good again
Gentle finished the 1.5km ocean swim in 10th position and got to work early on the bike, chipping away at the leading pack before hitting the front midway through the ride. Once in the lead Ashleigh did not look back, pulling away and showing once again why she is known as the Queen of Noosa.
“I’m feeling pretty good, I definitely had a really strong bike and I’m super happy with that, it was definitely getting pretty hard towards the end of that run,” she said afterwards.
“This year there was a particularly strong swim field, I know I don’t have the speed to come out with some of those women, the short-course specialists and super swimmers but I still had a reasonable swim actually, the group of girls that I came out with and then I just tried to hammer the bike really hard at the start, just to try and get to the front of the race as quickly as possible.
“I surprised myself a little bit with how strong I was riding and how quickly I caught the field but then from then on I led the whole way on the bike and once I got off I just tried to stay composed as best as I could.”
Gentle spoke about how special Noosa is to her, and how that debut win for Mercer brought her own memories flooding back.
“It’s honestly really, really, surreal, I was just in an interview with Brayden Mercer and he’s just taken out his first Noosa Triathlon title at a super young age and I remember when I was that young and I won my first Noosa Tri and it’s literally a lifetime ago.
“I’m actually super happy for him and it brings me back and makes me think about how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown up with this race and it’s definitely extremely special.”
Ashleigh Gentle claims her 10th Noosa Triathlon victory in a row and her 11th in total in 2024 (Photo – Alex Polizzi).
Thousands of spectators lined the course in Noosa, with Gentle taking plenty of encouragement from not only the crowd but her fellow competitors.
“It was great as usual, I had a huge group of Smiling for Smiddy athletes cheering for me as they were coming out on the run, that is so incredible, they’re out doing the triathlon for an amazing cause and they still have the time and energy to turn to me and wish me well and congratulations, that says a lot about this event.
“I feel like each year my love for this sport is getting greater and greater which says a lot because I loved it from the start, I’ll keep showing up and doing the best that I can.”
Elite Men – Rookie rules as Mercer prevails
Mercer was first out of the water, just ahead of South Africa’s Jamie Riddle and Reid. As the leading group sorted themselves out over the early stages of the 40km ride Riddle found himself at the front, swapping positions with Mercer a number of times, before the South African Olympian surged ahead and was first onto the run.
20-year-old Mercer did not let Riddle out of his sight, moving into the lead within the first 2.5km and he pushed home his advantage from there, opening up a lead over the closing stages to claim the biggest win of his short career.
He said afterwards: “Honestly it’s a surreal feeling, I just came out here and I knew if I gave it my best shot I’d get a result I was pleased of but to win is something else, this is the mega event of Aus triathlon so to win this as an Aussie is the best feeling, so I’m so grateful to be out here in an amazing race and to get a victory I’m over the moon.
“I knew that the swim is my strength so I thought if I could push it from the start, get a little group together on the bike and then if I rode to what I knew I could do on the bike, which I did, and then come off the plan was to push myself to the finish line on the run and that’s what I did and I got the win, I’m honestly over the moon.”
Mercer also said he had enjoyed taking on a stacked field full of Olympians and former Noosa Triathlon champions.
“Lots of Olympians and guys that I look up to as the older boys of Aus triathlon, I was saying to myself that if you want to be the best you’ve gotta beat the best so that’s what I did today and I can’t believe it, shout out to them, they pushed me to the finish line.
“Competition makes me stronger, that’s why I train hard every day, because of those guys, they wake me up every morning because I know they’re doing the same thing and I honestly couldn’t do it without them as well.”
Brayden Mercer wins the Elite Men race at the 2024 Noosa Triathlon (Photo – Alex Polizzi).
Noosa Triathlon 2024 Results
Sunday November 3, 2024
Elite Women
Ashleigh Gentle – 1:46:57
Richelle Hill – 1:56:58
Natalie Van Coevorden – 1:58:49
Sophie Malowiecki – 1:59:01
Tara Sosinski – 1:59:20
Nicole Van Der Kaay – 2:01:39
Chloe Hartnett – 2:02:26
Lotte Wilms – 2:04:05
Charlotte McShane – 2:04:15
Mikayla Messer – 2:04:33
Elite Men
Brayden Mercer – 1:43:20
Tayler Reid – 1:43:58
Luke Willian – 1:44:15
Jamie Riddle – 1:44:27
Jake Birtwhistle – 1:45:30
Kurt McDonald – 1:46:08
Caleb Noble – 1:47:53
Jack Sosinski – 1:48:43
Jack Crome – 1:49:02
Joe Begbie – 1:49:22
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