![Tri Events Tasmania managing director Will Blackaby in Launceston this week. Picture by Phillip Biggs Tri Events Tasmania managing director Will Blackaby in Launceston this week. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/brian.allen/51ee1e50-f5eb-4fdf-ac8e-7f2c0044be2e.jpg/r0_0_5000_3122_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It's actually happened that quickly that I haven't really thought about it."
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It's been a whirlwind two years for Will Blackaby since starting his event management business Tri Events Tasmania (TET).
The 22-year-old recently bought the rights to the iconic Devonport Triathlon which is from March 13-19.
The event will feature the Elite Oceania and Australian Sprint Triathlon Championships, the School Sport Australia Triathlon and Aquathlon Championships alongside age group racing.
![Will Blackaby competes at the Beauty Point Triathlon in 2021. Picture by Paul Scambler Will Blackaby competes at the Beauty Point Triathlon in 2021. Picture by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/brian.allen/e433ea2c-fd4f-4bc3-af42-fdd1611b181c.jpg/r0_213_4176_2784_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Devonport will also host the world's best Paralympians and triathletes for the World Triathlon Para Series which Blackaby said was the only event of its type in the southern hemisphere.
It's come after Blackaby started the Greens Beach Triathlon in 2021 which has expanded to a two-day event on January 21-22.
The part-time university student is now working full-time, running events with TET and picking up contract work.
"I definitely fell into this. Leaving school I didn't know this was my passion," he said.
"Then I fell into the Devonport Triathlon and purchased that.
"With Atlas Events, I was having a conversation with someone and then next thing I was going to one of their events in Brisbane and now I'm a contractor for them.
"It hasn't fully sunk in what I'm actually doing. I'm enjoying it which is the main thing."
A 10-year-old Blackaby couldn't have had much greater inspiration to give triathlon a whirl with the champions around him at Riverside Swim Centre.
Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jake Birtwhistle and triathlete/runner Dylan Evans also swam there.
"I got a bike for Christmas one year and started riding and then all of a sudden I was doing triathlons," Blackaby said.
His family jumped into the sport too with mum Maree becoming Triathlon Tasmania executive officer while his dad Doug took on the presidency. His brother Alex was also an eager competitor.
Blackaby would join the state team - the Fairbrother squad - and learn under the tutelage of Evans.
He was a strong competitor taking out TT's junior male athlete of the year two years in a row from 2017-18.
Competing around Australia opened his eyes to the different ways an event could be run.
"I got to experience what other events were like, not just in Tasmania but around Australia," he said.
![Jamieson Hadley, Jake Birtwhistle, Will Blackaby and Will Jones
ahead of the inaugural Greens Beach Triathlon in 2021. Picture by Phillip Biggs Jamieson Hadley, Jake Birtwhistle, Will Blackaby and Will Jones
ahead of the inaugural Greens Beach Triathlon in 2021. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/brian.allen/a0671e51-219d-4ad4-b6f8-4f714a52167e.jpg/r0_0_4200_2791_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"For example, now if I go and watch any sport or a triathlon or a cycling race, you just get that buzz that you want to be out there and racing.
"Going to different events and having that buzz organising events is basically having that buzz all the time."
Blackaby said he joined the Launceston Triathlon Club committee as a 17-year-old and it wasn't long before he was organising the club's events.
About the same time, he got his accreditation from Triathlon Australia and started coaching the junior state team.
Blackaby, a former St Patrick's College student who had started a teaching degree, then created his own event at Greens Beach.
"It's a great location and talking to a few mates that do triathlons, they all thought it'd be cool there as well," he said.
"I thought I'll make it happen and Tri Events Tasmania was formed as a bit of a hobby."
Blackaby was blown away when more than 100 competitors flocked to the event and it was awarded TT's triathlon of the year.
He was then invited to the Devonport Triathlon by Cradle Coast Sport and Events managing director Michael Bonney.
"He gave me a great opportunity to purchase the event off him and from there Tri Events Tasmania went from being a bit of a hobby to all of a sudden being a fully-fledged business and it's grown ever since," he said.
Blackaby has great respect for the event.
"Tasmania has such a long history of triathlon and the Devonport Triathlon has been going since 1985," he said.
"It's one of the longest-going triathlons in Australia. I think it's almost on par with the Noosa Triathlon."
Blackaby spoke of his contract work with Atlas Events.
"They own major marathon events - the Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Hobart marathons," he said.
"I worked for them as an assistant race director. So between them and Tri Events Tasmania it's a full-time job now."
With a such a full plate, Blackaby explained he doesn't take his own athletic performance as seriously these days.
Now that he's in the swing of his new lifestyle, he'd love to compete more.
"I'm training a lot and I haven't stopped training but I just haven't been racing," he said.
"My plan is to come back and continue racing a fair bit and basically just have some fun with friends."
Blackaby has had great mentors from the likes of Trent Hadley at Riverside pool through to Birtwhistle.
"Jake and Dylan Evans were the best in the squad and I was just a junior at the time and getting dragged along through the swim club to different triathlon or aquathon events and ocean swims," he said.
"Their involvement in the swim club was what got me into triathlon.
"Jake's been a great supporter of mine as well in attending the Greens Beach Triathlon in 2021."
He added it was great Birtwhistle maintained his Riverside base.
"Tassie being so small, it's common in a lot of sports that you have to move (interstate) to be any good," he said.
"Having Jake live here in the state is such a motivator for our junior athletes in the squad. With our previous camp, we were down at the Riverside pool and Jake was training. He said hello to the kids and they had a bit of a chat and it's not very often, the juniors, especially in Tasmania, get to experience something like that.
"He's a great figure for triathlon in Tasmania and he's not the only one. We've got people like Cam Wurf as well who's such a great triathlete from Tasmania and we've had Joe Gambles in the past."
Right now, Blackaby is happy to work through the busy schedule in front of him but he's never far away from making his next idea a reality.
"Tasmania is becoming so well known for mountain biking that I'd love to bring a world-class cross-triathlon to Tasmania," he said.
"A cross-triathlon is where you have a swim in a dam or something and then it's a mountain bike ride and a cross-country run.
"I'd love to bring one of them to Tassie. It's a great spot for it and we're known for our mountain biking, so why not?"
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