Hey all! I’m moving to Australia and wondering what the best cities are for triathlon and tri training. Any recommendations would be appreciated! Right now we’re thinking Brisbane.
South end of the Gold Coast was pretty great for me. Riding out the door to multiple good roads to ride, good pools, oceans right there and not too busy. Trails to run as well. No clue what’s more expensive. They just hosted World Champs as well.
Its the most isolated city in the world but Perth is fantastic location for training. Bike paths everywhere, 100’s of olympic length pools (beaches too but plenty of sharks) and the best weather in Australia.
Best city for cycling is Adelaide, hence the Tour Down Under. That and most drivers are pretty good around cyclists. You won’t find that in Queensland.
Brisbane is humid, I have never been a great fan of the weather there but each to their own. Not sure of the triathlon scene in Brisbane but obviously not far to the Gold Coast or Noosa.
Perth is awesome for triathlon, plenty of great Olympic Pools, great clubs, great cycling and plenty of running options, just a little isolated compared to the eastern states.
Adelaide is the best cycling city if you want to move to a major city. Otherwise Melbourne best tri and Cycling city just with such a huge cycle culture and so many tri clubs.
Regional areas like Geelong or Bendigo are brilliant place with way less traffic and plenty cycle and tri groups.
I live In a regional area about 3hrs out of Sydney with 50,000 people and we having amazing cycling and year round pool access so very lucky.
Depends what you are after.
I live on the edge of the Mornington Peninsula, just out of Melbourne. Bay beach is across the road. Three different trails within a couple of 100 metres from my house. Hundreds of kilometres of great riding routes, hilly and flat. Good climbing 30 mins drive away up in the Dandenongs (Rain Forest). And 3 hours drive to the Alpine Region with serious (TDF like) climbs. Heaps of Triathlons throughout Summer, Duathlons in Winter and almost unlimited number of running races all year round. However Melbourne gets cold and wet throughout Winter. It never snows, but I’ve seen just below freezing temperatures on the Garmin during early morning Winter rides. It would have the 2nd most days of rain per year after Tasmania. However most of the time the rain is light or just drizzle, easy to train through if you have the right gear. Races: Geelong 70.3, Challenge Shepparton (half), Challenge Melbourne (half), 2XU local Sprint/Olympic Triathlon Series, Trifest local Sprint/Olympic Triathlon Series, Altona (Western Suburbs Tri Club) Sprint Triathlon Series (and Duathlons in Winter), TriVic Duathlon series, plus the usual number of independent Triathlons in the surrounding country areas.
Brisbane doesn’t get very cold over Winter, but can be quite humid in Summer. It has less days of rain than Melbourne, but almost 3 times the rainfall - when it rains it really pours. Races: Ironman Cairns (+70.3), Mooloolaba 70.3, Mooloolaba Olympic, Noosa Olympic, Luke Harrop Gold Coast and the local races. Note that Queensland is huge and Cairns is about 2,000 kms north of Brisbane (whereas Melbourne is 2,000kms south).
Sydney’s weather and location is half way between Brisbane and Melbourne. Races: Ironman Port Macquarie (& 70.3), West Sydney 70.3, several independent Long Distance Tris and numerous local races.
Perth stays pretty warm all year round and has the least days of the rain and the least rainfall. But as mentioned, is very isolated from the rest of Australia. A long (and more expensive) trip to races in other states of Australia. Races: Ironman Busselton (& 70.3). Obviously a lot of other races that I’m unaware of.
Adelaide has similar weather to Melbourne, but about 1 to 2 degrees warmer. The weather patterns typically hit Adelaide a day before they reach Melbourne. Lots of good riding close to Adelaide. Local Sprint & Olympic Triathlon series, but no Ironman or Challenge branded races.
Of course, you might not want to stay near one of the major’s cities. Good triathlon communities in Noosa and Port Macquarie
If you’re from a location that has regular club based triathlons, Brisbane isn’t like that.
There are plenty of clubs/training squads, but you’d get more club based racing at the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, or other smaller areas - Hervey Bay/Bundaberg for example.
I’m in Brisbane, if all else was equal, I’d be heading for the Sunshine Coast in a heart beat.
Its the most isolated city in the world but Perth is fantastic location for training. Bike paths everywhere, 100’s of olympic length pools (beaches too but plenty of sharks) and the best weather in Australia.
Totally disagree having lived there for 6 months. Swimming facilities are great but cycling is terrible: the bike paths are poorly maintained (or at least they were when I was there) and you can’t ride at speed, and the city is so sprawling that if you want to get out you either have to drive with your bike or ride for ages down some hideous main road. I used to go for a Sunday group ride with one of the main bike shops in the city and it consisted of riding out to an industrial estate or a housing estate in Fremantle and doing laps. Awful. Running is OK but you really have to do it in parks and because the weather is so terrible in summer (phenomenally hot) it’s really hard to get a good run in. Add the astonishingly high cost of living (and that’s from someone who lives in London), the widespread racism, the generally massive levels of parochialism and the really poor public transport and you really don’t have a great place to live, plus there are only about 3 races a year.
I didn’t like Perth much, in case you can’t tell.
The bike path south continues uninterrupted for ages. Plus you can always cycle to the hills, depending on how far west your located. Racism? That shits everywhere. There are many races including club races. Two 70.3’s and one full. Granted they could do more with Ironman racing. I do agree cost of living and transport leaves something to be desired
Perth has more annual rainfall than Melbourne
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Adelaide is awesome.
As other have said, cycling is REALLY good.
I loved my 4:30am runs in the hills to beat the summer heat.
Pools are great in the summer, but you’ll go through a lot of sunscreen.
Not much choice in the winter for swimming though.
Its the most isolated city in the world but Perth is fantastic location for training. Bike paths everywhere, 100’s of olympic length pools (beaches too but plenty of sharks) and the best weather in Australia.
Totally disagree having lived there for 6 months. Swimming facilities are great but cycling is terrible: the bike paths are poorly maintained (or at least they were when I was there) and you can’t ride at speed, and the city is so sprawling that if you want to get out you either have to drive with your bike or ride for ages down some hideous main road. I used to go for a Sunday group ride with one of the main bike shops in the city and it consisted of riding out to an industrial estate or a housing estate in Fremantle and doing laps. Awful. Running is OK but you really have to do it in parks and because the weather is so terrible in summer (phenomenally hot) it’s really hard to get a good run in. Add the astonishingly high cost of living (and that’s from someone who lives in London), the widespread racism, the generally massive levels of parochialism and the really poor public transport and you really don’t have a great place to live, plus there are only about 3 races a year.
I didn’t like Perth much, in case you can’t tell.
Mate you’ve described just about every big city in the world. Also living there for 6 months is more like having an extended holiday, so i’m guessing you didn’t see it all. You can ride on a bike path from Perth all the way to Mundarah (140 km round trip) plus you can also ride up into the hills. Plus running paths also circle most of the Swan River.
As for the heat, well for someone who lives in London i’m not sure you are the best person to talk about weather 
Dont get me wrong, i did 5 years there and was happy to go…but for year round training its maybe one of the best locations in Australia for triathlon
Perth has more annual rainfall than Melbourne
A strange fact, but true. Although i would argue Perth gets the rainfall over 3 months, Melbourne has it spread out over 10 months.
Thanks for all the input! This is really great information.
I’m coming from the US so I’m not really familiar with the triathlon club scene so I’ll definitely look into those wherever I end up. Also I’m currently based in WI so used to very cold winters that take up a large majority of the year. I’m excited for almost year round riding outside!
I have heard great things about Noosa and Melbourne so am planning on investigating those locations as well. Melbourne has turned me off a bit just because it can get cold and I’m trying to avoid that for the time being!
Mate you’ve described just about every big city in the world. Also living there for 6 months is more like having an extended holiday, so i’m guessing you didn’t see it all. You can ride on a bike path from Perth all the way to Mundarah (140 km round trip) plus you can also ride up into the hills. Plus running paths also circle most of the Swan River.
As for the heat, well for someone who lives in London i’m not sure you are the best person to talk about weather
Dont get me wrong, i did 5 years there and was happy to go…but for year round training its maybe one of the best locations in Australia for triathlon
Maybe I missed something, but certainly when I was there (2009) the bike paths were really not good to ride upon, with poor surfaces and randos walking around with baby buggies. I’m sure it’s lovely there in the winter, but I just cannot understand how anyone could think it a good place to be in the summer when it’s getting >40ºC a lot of the time… and regarding the other issues, maybe you’ve been living in the wrong cities. Perth is shockingly expensive, worryingly parochial and over-adorned with 1st and 2nd generation immigrants with no inkling whatsoever of how ironic the “No immigrants” and “Fuck off we’re full” stickers on the backs of their shitty gas guzzling Holden utes are.
Want a city which actually does have perfect weather and also much better riding than Perth? Johannesburg… although there are some obvious other issues there. Want somewhere with terrific riding in beautiful hills an easy ride from your front door, more fantastic running than you can shake a stick at, some excellent open water swimming options and a choice of two or three multisport races every weekend in the summer? South London suburbs mate… and a nice bottle of Margaret River Cab Sav will set you back less than it does in Perth. Obviously this is getting a bit far from the OP’s question so I’ll shut up now
You’re making comments based on being there 10 years ago? Things have changed a little…it’s still not perfect but it’s far from bad. But we’re getting off topic for sure so I’ll zip it too.
Yes, fair enough it was a while ago. On the brighter side I did IMWA while I was there and really liked it.
Its the most isolated city in the world but Perth is fantastic location for training. Bike paths everywhere, 100’s of olympic length pools (beaches too but plenty of sharks) and the best weather in Australia.
Totally disagree having lived there for 6 months. Swimming facilities are great but cycling is terrible: the bike paths are poorly maintained (or at least they were when I was there) and you can’t ride at speed, and the city is so sprawling that if you want to get out you either have to drive with your bike or ride for ages down some hideous main road. I used to go for a Sunday group ride with one of the main bike shops in the city and it consisted of riding out to an industrial estate or a housing estate in Fremantle and doing laps. Awful. Running is OK but you really have to do it in parks and because the weather is so terrible in summer (phenomenally hot) it’s really hard to get a good run in. Add the astonishingly high cost of living (and that’s from someone who lives in London), the widespread racism, the generally massive levels of parochialism and the really poor public transport and you really don’t have a great place to live, plus there are only about 3 races a year.
I didn’t like Perth much, in case you can’t tell.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. We have one of the best climates in the world. We didn’t have a day over 40 last summer and this year perhaps one or two. Even on hot days the temps drop right off in the evenings, so you run after work or in the morning. You came to Perth, which has some amazing riding and did laps around an industrial estate? That’s beyond moronic… 3 races a year? WTF? Have you actually been to Perth? This season there were 49 races listed on Triathlon WAs calendar plus another 10+ community races. 2009 was no different. You sound like a typical Englishman and a very negative individual, come to Perth and moan that the beaches are shit, because there are no pubs there… And BTW I lived in the UK for 7/8 years so more than happy to compare the two places
, some excellent open water swimming options and a choice of two or three multisport races every weekend in the summer? South London suburbs mate
London is better than Perth for triathlon training… where are these “excellent open water swimming options” you refer to? And you also recommend Johannsburg, one of the most dangerous cities in the world…