Tuesday Morning Run Intervals – Temporary Location Change

With the Grand Prix bump-in well underway, access to our usual meeting point for Tuesday morning run intervals is blocked. For this week, we’ll be shifting slightly to a new spot to keep the session running smoothly.  We'll confirm the following build week locations closer to the time, as we assess the impact of the GP infrastructure.

📍 New Meeting Location: Rotunda at the north end of Albert Park Lake, next to Coot Picnic Area (AKA where Albert Park parkrun meets!)
⏰ 5:45 AM Start

Everything else remains the same - same hard efforts, same squad energy, just a slightly different backdrop.

All details are updated on our online timetable – check it out here:

🔗 Session Details & Timetable

Ollie Out of Action This Week

If you’ve been wondering why you haven’t seen our Head Coach bounding around with his usual energy, it’s because Ollie has finally lost the battle with his back. After dealing with a perpetual, nagging injury for some time, things took a turn for the worse over the weekend, leaving him completely out of action.

Right now, he can’t stand for long periods, can’t sit at all, and is basically stuck in limbo - which, as you can imagine, makes coaching (and just about everything else) near impossible. He’s focusing on seeking medical attention this week, so you won’t see him at sessions or hear from him as quickly as usual while he works on getting back on his feet.

Sessions will continue as normal with our coaching team stepping up to ensure everything runs smoothly - so no need to worry there. However, with Race 5 coming up this weekend, we could use a few extra hands to help fill the gaps.

If you’re available to lend a hand with tent setup, pack-down, TriKids, or general squad support on race day, we’d love to have you involved. Every little bit helps, especially while our fearless leader is sidelined.

Let’s rally together as a squad, keep things running seamlessly, and hopefully get Ollie back on deck sooner rather than later. Wishing him a speedy recovery - let’s just hope he listens to his own advice about proper recovery and not rushing back too soon!

Race #5 – Elwood Needs You!

Race weekends don’t happen without the squad pulling together, and with Race #5 at Elwood this weekend, we need all hands on deck! Normally, we have our usual crew leading the charge, but with Ollie, Andy, and Les out on Saturday, we could be in a bit of a pickle.

If you’ve got some time to spare, we’d love your help at any of the following:

🔹 Saturday - Tent Set-Up: From 8:30am – No Ollie, no Andy, no Les… this one is going to require a bit of extra squad effort! Many hands make light work, so if you’re around, please swing by.
🔹 Saturday - Race Recon: 7:00am – A massive thanks to Rob for stepping up to cover this! If anyone wants to join in and lend a hand, helpers are always welcome.
🔹 Saturday - Try the Tri Session: 9:30am – A huge shout-out to Rob & Mon for taking charge with this one!

🔹 Saturday - Tips & Tricks Clinic: From 12:00pm – Always a great session to support, especially for newer athletes soaking up race-day wisdom.

🔹 Sunday - TriKids Support: Meet at the TA Tent at 7:00am for a quick check-in before the 7:10am briefing in transition. Helping out here means ensuring our little legends have a smooth, stress-free race morning.

🔹 Sunday - Tent Pack-Down: From 11:00am – A few extra hands at the end of the day will make the pack-down so much quicker (and might even earn you a coffee shout).

If you can help out, just turn up at the times above, and we’ll put you to good use! Your support makes a huge difference, and we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you in advance, legends! 💙💛

MSAC Pool Closures & What It Means for Our Squad

We wanted to take a moment to share some important updates regarding the upcoming maintenance at MSAC that will impact our squad swims in the coming months. If you haven’t already heard, MSAC will be closing both its 50m outdoor competition pool and multipurpose pool for essential maintenance starting April 1st.

• Outdoor pool closed: April – August
• Multipurpose pool closed: April – May

These works are vital to ensuring MSAC remains one of the premier swimming facilities in Melbourne, with upgraded flooring and waterproofing to improve accessibility and longevity.

What This Means for Our Squad

We know this isn’t the news anyone wanted to hear, and we understand it will cause disruptions to training. But after thorough research and careful consideration, we’ve made the decision not to move squad swims to an alternative venue during this closure.

We explored several options, but unfortunately, the only available pools offered limited 25m lanes at significantly higher costs—meaning an additional $20 per week on top of current membership fees. With cost-of-living pressures already front of mind, we do not believe this is a viable or fair option for our squad.

Membership Adjustments & Training Plan

Since we won’t have consistent access to squad swims during this period, we are recommending all athletes adjust their membership to a "without swim" option. This way, you won’t be paying for a service we can’t reliably provide.

However, swimming will remain a critical part of your training plan. Your programs will still include swim sets, and we strongly encourage you to complete them at your own convenience—covering the necessary distances, technique work, and race-specific preparation to keep progressing toward your goals.

Once the initial phase of MSAC’s project is complete, we will regain some access to lane hire, but this will be intermittent, and we’ll communicate those updates as they come.

Why We’re Sticking With MSAC

Tri-Alliance has had a long-standing partnership with MSAC, and we value this relationship immensely. They will be looking after us as best they can, and when the works are complete, we’ll have access to an improved, high-quality facility. Most importantly, our loyalty and partnership mean we will receive priority access once everything is back up and running.

We Understand This Will Be Frustrating

We know this is not ideal. We know it will be inconvenient. And we know not everyone is going to like it. For that, we truly apologise. We are making this decision with informed knowledge and the best interests of the squad in mind.

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to discuss your options, please reach out to Ollie. We will continue to update you through the newsletter each week as we learn more about session availability.

Thank you for your understanding and support 💙💛