Applying hard lessons from UCI 2022: Wollongong gears up for World Triathlon Championships
Wollongong braces for global spotlight as World Triathlon nears - with promises of fewer roadblocks, more spending, and an opportunity to grab.
In nine weeks, Wollongong’s spectacular coastline will once again be beamed across the world as the city prepares to host the 2025 World Triathlon Championship Finals.
It marks a return to the international spotlight less than three years after Wollongong staged Wollongong 2002, also known as the UCI Road World Cycling Championships.
That event welcomed hundreds of elite athletes, global media attention, and almost 240,000 spectators. For eight days, the city was a showcase of world-class sport, cycling culture and international prestige.
But beneath the spectacle, the city also encountered disruption, misaligned expectations, and patchy business impact.
Despite those challenges, Wollongong 2022 set the stage. A week after the UCI event wrapped, Jeremy Wilshire, now general manager at Destination Wollongong, received a phone call from World Triathlon.
“I literally took a call the week afterwards, saying that looked amazing. Can we talk about triathlon?” he said.
They signed up for Wollongong to be involved in their program for the 2025 and 2026 world championships.
Stakeholders say the UCI experience has left a clear imprint on how the next event is being planned - with stronger local oversight, clearer business engagement strategies, and a more realistic understanding of what success looks like.
“It was difficult getting people into the city to spend and for the businesses to see the benefit of that,” Wilshire said.
“I’m acutely aware of that.”
Wollongong City Council’s UCI post-event summary showed spending across the Illawarra declined by 4.8 per cent, while CBD spending decreased by 10 per cent. The decline was attributed to uncertainty around road closures.
And while the report does not provide the statistics, it says Helensburgh was an outlier, seeing an increase in activity.
Lord Mayor Councillor Tania Brown said this is something other areas can learn from.
“I think they embraced it in terms of making sure when they put an event on. Every shop was open to benefit from that. They had food and beverage offerings ready to go.
“Down in the CBD, a lot of businesses just said, ‘I’m closing for the fortnight. I'm getting out of town.’ So we are never going to make money then.”
Cr Brown also said expectations are being managed this time. “We were all sold a story pre-COVID of the numbers UCI would attract.”
“None of us could have predicted COVID, and then the ability of people to travel and how much flights would cost. It impacted the number of competitors.”
With the World Triathlon Championships, she says, “the expectations are not that hundreds of thousands of people are going to be here. So it’s all far more manageable.”
Owner of His Boy Elroy, Lachlan Stevens, was one of the vocal business leaders during Wollongong 2022 who saw lacklustre sales, despite having a food truck on the finish line and an open CBD presence.
He’s keen for lessons learnt during the event to be applied.
“My opinion is that it had a positive cultural and reputational impact for our region, however the report 'Host City Post event summary' that WCC released, did not adequately outline the lessons learnt - of which there where many, particularly with regards to the economic impact on small businesses and communication plans from WCC,” he said.
“I’m pro business, but also pro accountability.”
Cr Brown said several factors were helping to shape a different approach for October.
“One of the real lessons of UCI is trying not to gild the lily too much,” she said.
“Just … this is what’s going to happen, and these are the roads that will be closed. Honest, transparent communication is probably key to it.”
The World Triathlon Championships will be smaller in scale - four days instead of eight - and fundamentally different in character.
“This is 4500 athletes of which a couple of hundred are elite, but the rest are amateur athletes here to not only compete, but explore Australia and the South Coast,” said Wilshire.
Unlike UCI, the triathlon course will maintain a compact footprint around Wollongong Harbour, minimising disruption.
“It’s really centred around the Harbour Precinct, Lang Park, Marine Drive,” said Cr Brown.
“You’re not closing down the highway from Helensburgh … in fact, I don’t think we even closed Corrimal Street, which is a big plus too.”
With local approvals and oversight retained, Wollongong Council and event partners are working more closely to manage the experience for residents and businesses.
“A lot more of the approvals happen at a local level,” said Cr Brown. “Looking at traffic impacts and management, it’s vastly different.”
Destination Wollongong has also introduced direct measures to ensure businesses benefit.
All registered athletes will receive spending vouchers redeemable at local food and beverage outlets, drawing foot traffic into the city.
“That will probably be, you know, $20 or $30, and you spend that in stores,” said Wilshire. “Further to that, we’re going to market now with offers across the event period as well.”
Another key difference lies in the type of visitor. Triathlon, Wilshire noted, attracts amateur athletes who treat the event as a destination experience.
“We already know the minimum stay for a lot of those athletes is five to seven nights. They'll come here and want to swim in the rock pools and experience the bike course beforehand, and run along the Blue Mile. And that's part of our messaging. We know the habits of those demographics. Triathletes are high achievers, they're high spenders, and they're tech savvy.
Cr Brown agreed that the makeup of the triathlon crowd is more compatible with the city’s tourism economy. “It’s not usually just the athlete … various members of the family may also compete in other events,” she said. “They stay for the whole week, not just do their race and leave.”
So far on Booking.com, just three per cent of rooms in Wollongong are available between October 15 to October 19, the dates of the championships. In the days leading up to October 15, 83 per cent of rooms are already occupied.
Even the planning process has become more collaborative, with cross-agency meetings already underway to align branding, signage, and event livery. “We just want to make sure that it’s coordinated across state stakeholders, and is easy for the public,” said Wilshire.
For Cr Brown, the triathlon is a chance for businesses to make the most of the opportunity.
“We put events like this on because we want them to come to the region - they bring visitors, and they also bring residents into the area.
“If your doors are open, people are going to line up, but you’ve still got to work for it. I think it just brings so many more opportunities, and again, you’ve got to be open to the opportunity.”
Movers and Shakers
Last week, we mentioned that former IRT CEO Patrick Reid has been named as Chief Operating Officer at not-for-profit competitor Uniting NSW/ACT. Now we can tell you that Ross Gallagher has been named the new CEO of IRT, following a four-month tenure as interim CEO.
Hot Ticket
Yet another sporting hero is coming down to the Illawarra to spill their secrets. Australian swim coach Dean Boxell will be the keynote speaker at the Legacy Business and Community lunch at the Sage Hotel on August 29, 2025.
The AIS Performance Coach of the Year 2024 will share his unique coaching philosophy that combines technical excellence with mental fortitude, and which has inspired swimmers like Ariarne Titmus, Molly O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack.
Buy your tickets here.
Upcoming events
NBL pre-season starts in 10 days, and the Illawarra Hawks are giving business leaders a chance to hear from 2024 champions and co-captains Tyler Harvey and Sam Froling on Friday, August 15.
The breakfast event is a chance to find out what’s in store for the 2025/26 season.
Tickets are available here.
You can find out more about this event and others throughout August and September in our networking list.
Did you read:
The Illawarra entrepreneur reshaping cancer care with an exercise-first approach
How the Dapto gym that runs on sweat, not profit, built social capital
Up Mount Ousley in an electric B-double with a 68-tonne load? No worries, says BlueScope
Ok, so you read this far. We’re impressed. In fact, so impressed, we ask that you let other people know how much you enjoyed this article.