Southern traders eye long-term benefits
AS the road cycling time trials took off on the southern Gold Coast the wheel began to turn forward for frustrated traders.
Currumbin was its postcard perfect best yesterday morning as organisers arrived at Pacific Pde to prepare one of four free gold medal events.
Just before 9am there were more cyclists, officials and police around the precinct than fans, adding to the anxiety of retailers who have had their worst Easter in years.
But business operators acknowledged images of their front door – the clear skies, a blanket blue ocean and clean white sand – were to be beamed across the world as the time trials got under way at 10am.
Traders remain hopeful in the long term benefit of the Commonwealth Games, that the publicity will attract international tourists to unique locations like Currumbin.
“I think the exposure will be good for the area. It’s been tough for a lot of us here. I don’t want to be negative,” a retailer told the Bulletin.
By midday the crowds were linked up along the barriers in the street and cafes started to fill with tourists watching cyclists pass by every minute for their individual time trial.
Some fans were yelling out “go you good thing” as the cyclists roared past.
The view from businesses is their trade which received a boost during the Race Walk final on Sunday attracting up to 6000 people will start to climb again.
Elephant Rock Cafe manager Marcos Amaral could sense it after staffers started serving coffees for tourists at 7am. “Sunday was busy for the Race Walk. We are expecting this Saturday will be our busiest day,” Mr Amaral said.
“We’ve rostered more people. We are ready. The vibe is amazing. We are getting a very good crowd. Everybody is happy.”
Just a few hundred metres from the start, Joanna Lydeamore from Cairns was waiting patiently with her family.
They have been to numerous Games venues including Carrara and the athletics but for the 16-year-old there is no competition for what is her favourite sport.
“When they race, cycling is the ultimate,” she says.
Louise Staunton Smith with her 12-year-old daughter Ellie, from Brisbane, did not need to listen to the advice on the overhead speakers about racing. Her sister is former triathlete Tracey Sewell.
“I like the competitiveness aspect to it, the hard work they put in,” she said.
The pair have been on the Coast since Friday, staying at Banora Point, and they know the images from Currumbin would promote the city in the best light.
“We came to see the Race Walk. How could it be any better than this. The place is gorgeous,” Ms Staunton
Smith said.
Restaurant owners who have battled with staffing, cutting back their casuals and then trying to find them after
business picked up on the weekend, can see the light.
But Currumbin Boat Shed owner Leo Hoff, who hires out stand-up paddleboards, said he didn’t know how he would survive the winter after the slowest Easter holidays he has experienced in eight years in business.
“Palm Beach and Currumbin are the same as they were in the late 1970s, they are small country towns again,” he said.
“Business is down twothirds from what it usually is, it is just terrible,” he said.
“I’m trying to stay optimistic that once the Games are gone that people come up from New South Wales to recoup a little bit of what we have lost.”