The impending impact of Tropical Cyclone Alfred is causing the cancellation of events and closure of facilities across South East Queensland.
Intensifying into a Category Two system overnight as it continues to head towards the coast, the region is facing predicted high rainfall, extreme winds - with damaging wind gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour - and expected flooding.
As of 4.50am Tuesday, the cyclone sat 560 kilometres east of Brisbane and 560 kilometres east of Maroochydore, with the Bureau of Meteorology advising “Tropical Cyclone Alfred is currently moving southeast, but it is expected to slow and turn west towards the Queensland coast later today.
“Alfred’s intensity may fluctuate between category 1 and 2 over the next few days, but it is forecast to cross the southeast Queensland coast at category 2 strength late on Thursday or early Friday morning”.
Councils have closed beaches while Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) has issued a safety warning for large parts of the Queensland coast.
As of yesterday, Golf Australia advised that the 2025 Australian WPGA Championship and Gold Coast Festival of Golf had been cancelled ahead of the first days play set to take place on Thursday due to the impending impact of the cyclone.
Golf Australia advised that the decision followed “extensive consultation with all stakeholders” and was as a result of “monitoring weather forecasts and following dialogue with the Queensland Government, Gold Coast City Council, Mulpha Group, Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club and the Ladies European Tour.”
Yesterday afternoon also saw SLSQ advised that the 2025 Queensland Surf Life Saving Championships - scheduled to be held at North Kirra from 7th to 9th March - would be cancelled.
SLSQ advised that it “made the decision to cancel the event in the interest of competitors and officials’ welfare”, adding “safety of competitors and officials is first and foremost when making the decision to cancel the competition, including the safety of travel to and from the competition.”
Queensland Surf Life Saving Championships, Chair of the Carnival Committee, Nigel Ward explained “based on latest weather modelling from Queensland Government authorities and the Bureau of Meteorology, we have made the early decision to cancel the event due to be held this weekend, to provide all those participating enough time to prepare.”
With the Queensland Youth Championships due to be held from 13th to 16th March at Tugun Beach, SLSQ said it would provide updates early next week.
Touch Football Australia (TFA) has also called off its national championships that had been set to start on Thursday in Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast.
TFA advised “(we have) explored many options including the possibility of shortened games, revised draws, and alternate fields in the Coffs Harbour area.”
This morning has seen Surfing Australia confirm that the Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle Grand Final, originally scheduled to take place on the Gold Coast on 8th and 9th March, has been postponed with new event dates to be announced shortly.
However, organisers of the Mooloolaba Triathlon are pushing ahead with this weekend's competition.
With more than 5,000 athletes and hundreds of volunteers expected at Australia's second largest triathlon, set to be held this Saturday and Sunday.
Mooloolaba Triathlon Head of Operations Rebecca van Pooss said it was too early for organisers to make a firm decision on whether the triathlon would be cancelled.
The ABC quoted van Pooss as saying "it looks like Wednesday, Thursday are the key days to watch and then we'll make our decisions once we see what weather comes in.
"We're keeping all options open at the moment, monitoring everything, talking to everyone we can."
Theme Parks and Sport
Village Roadshow has announced all of its attractions and theme parks will close for three days from Wednesday in preparation for the severe weather event.
In a statement, the company advised “following advice from the City of Gold Coast’s Disaster Management Team, Movie World, Sea World, Wet’n’Wild, Paradise Country, Australian Outback Spectacular, and Topgolf will be closed from Wednesday, 5th March to Friday, 7th March, inclusive.
“The decision has been made to prioritise the safety of visitors, staff, and animals”.
The AFL has advised that it is monitoring the forecast weather in Brisbane ahead of Thursday night's season opener at the Gabba.
An AFL spokesperson commented “we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days and be in step with Government advice.”
The Brisbane Lions are scheduled to unveil their premiership flag against Geelong on Thursday night ahead of a rematch of last year's preliminary final.
Guidance
Queensland Tourism Industry Council has released its guidance on preparing for a cyclone event.
Click here to view the Crisis Guidebook: Cyclone preparation Best practices for Queensland’s tourism industry.
Image: The Hyundai ABB Grand Final presented by NRMA Insurance has been postponed due to forced measures (top, credit: Surfing Australia/18 Seconds) and all beaches in the region are cloased (below, credit: Surf Life Saving Queensland).
Born in the English county of Dorset, Nigel Benton is the co-founder and Publisher of Australasian Leisure Management, Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific’s only magazine for professionals in all areas of the leisure industry and the www.ausleisure.com.au website - the go to news resource for industry leaders and professionals.
With a long-term commitment to communicating all that is best about the leisure industry (aquatics, attractions, entertainment, events, fitness, parks, recreation, sport, tourism and venues) his career has been defined by an ability to develop and implement industry communications.
Starting his career working in heritage visitor attractions and then adventure travel in Africa and the Middle East, an interest in writing about his experiences led to his change of career into magazine journalism and publishing.
In addition to publishing, Nigel speaks on marketing communications at a range of industry events.
He was made a Life Member of the World Leisure and Recreation Association in 2006 and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (London).
As of October 2024, he was inducted into the Australian Fitness Awards Roll of Honour at the 2024 AUSactive National Awards.
Among a range of published works and features, his comments on a Blog (blogspot) from 2007 to 2011, when this website went live in its current form, may be interesting to reflect back on.
His philosophy on life is to be kind to all and to indulge those that you love.
His passions include family, Newcastle United and motorcycles (especially British ones) as well, until February 2025 when she left us, caring a little pug named Stella.
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