The Quarry Mining Maitland Triathlon will return to the streets of Morpeth and Duckenfield this Sunday for the first time since 2021 after being postponed last October due to extreme weather.
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Beginners will start the race at the Queens Wharf Park in Morpeth alongside elite athletes including former world champions, Olympians, and Paralympians.
Competitors in the long distance event will be challenging for the state championships and a prize pool of $5500.
The event will also be the last race in a series called the King and Queen of Newcastle Triathlon, a three race series which includes triathlons in Stockton and Newcastle.
The leader of the men's event is Josh Wooldridge while Gemma Oakley is leading the women's event, they will be crowned winners with a good result on Sunday.
Maitland will host another Triathlon in October 2023 which will also be a qualifying event for the Townsville World Game Group Championships in 2024.
Event organiser Paul Humphreys said the March edition of the Triathlon will see a smaller competitor turn out than October, estimating between 250 and 300 starters by race day.
"We do clash with a very big event up in Queensland, the Mooloolaba Triathlon...people get used to your event being on a particular day," he said.
"What we are trying to do as event organisers is honour the commitment we made after we had to postpone that race (October event) at very short notice."
Mr Humphreys has no concerns about swimming conditions in the Hunter river after heavy rain presented challenges before last year's postponed event.
"We did a practice swim on Sunday, there's a big group of triathletes from Maitland that swim in the river regularly, we swam yesterday and there were no issues," he said.
"The water is very warm, a bit warmer than it would normally be."
He praised the support of Maitland City Council who are doing road maintenance works to repair damage from last year's floods.
"Council sponsor this event, they support it with their infrastructure, they've had to make a few changes to some of their road maintenance programs because of us," he said.
"I really appreciate that and I know that's not easy when you are talking about big infrastructure works held off for a triathlon like ours."
Long distance competitors will begin their two kilometre swim leg on Sunday from the Morpeth boat ramp at 6.45am followed by the Olympic distance entrants at 7.05am with the sprint race starting at 7.25am.