Sport
11 February, 2024
Big ride in for the long haul
THE organisers of the annual Port Douglas Gran Fondo Festival are seeking a three-year extension to host the event after last year’s program injected nearly $1.6 million into the Douglas shire economy.
Bade Stapleton, of Connect Sport Australia, said this year it was estimated competitors and spectators would spend $2m.
“If the event wasn’t held these dollars would disappear as people wouldn’t have travelled to our region to participate in the event,” he said.
“We are forecasting this to increase to over $2m in 2024, which will be a great boost to all the businesses who have struggled over the past few months.
“This event will be more important than ever in 2024 as the community tries to recover from this (flooding) disaster.”
Mr Stapleton told last month’s Douglas Shire Council meeting that his company made a $30,000 loss despite the success of the event.
“The current three-year deal ends after the 2024 event. We would like to secure a three-year extension prior to the 2024 event so we can begin planning for the future before the event this year,” he said.
“It’s important to provide people with assurances that the event will be on again in the future to secure their future participation.
“A three-year extension will also allow us to approach potential sponsors with confidence to that the event will continue into the future.
“We need more support from the Douglas Shire Council and TEQ (Tourism and Events Queensland) to make the event viable in the future as we can’t continue to run at a loss, while everyone else benefits.
“This event will be even more important in 2024 to help the region to rebuild post the floods.
“We need to provide people with reasons to come to our region and inject much needed funds into the community.”
The 2023 event attracted 1283 competitors (up 25 per cent on 2022), 411 from interstate (up 75 per cent). The event involved 3252 participants over three days.
Interstate expenditure was up 61 per cent and total overnight visitor spending was $1.8m.
Spending in Douglas shire totalled $1.6m, a 23 per cent rise.
