Draft:North Queensland Sports Foundation

The North Queensland Sports Foundation (NQSF) is a not-for-profit established in 1983 to develop sporting events and capacity in regional Queensland. Their flagship event is the NQ Games, hosted bi-annually, which is the largest regularly run multi-sport event in regional Australia. NQSF is an associate member of QSport.

History
The economies and development of Northern Queensland towns had been steadily increasing through the 1970s and into the 1980s, resulting in an increase in sporting participation rates in grassroots, school-aged competition and into adult sport clubs. While already established, this growth further cemented the role that sports played in the laid-back North Queensland lifestyle. However, as towns like Cairns and Townsville grew as attractions to tourists, it remained difficult to travel to and from towns to the capital city of Brisbane over ~2000km from Cairns, for those wishing to see or participate in elite sport opportunities.

In 1980, the North Queensland International Games was held in front of a capacity crowd at the Townsville Sports Reserve, the first time that track and field athletes had ever been attracted to North Queensland for an event. Subsequently, the media coverage of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane further wet the appetite in North Queensland for more sport. Ken McElligott, who at the time was the Deputy Mayor of Townsville City Council, convened a public meeting on February 16th 1983, which would lay the ground work in creating what would become the NQSF. McElligott borrowed an idea from fellow Townsville City Councillor Sheila Keefe, who had formed a North Queensland Theatre company subsidized by Local Government membership contributions. In October of 1983 McElligott would be elected to a position in State Parliament and Sports Administrator Bob McCullough OAM would become Chairman of the newly minted North Queensland Games Foundation, until 1986 when he would go on to become President of Wheechair Sports Australia, and then the Australian Paralympic Federation.

In the early years of the NQ Games the host-venue cycled through Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Mount Isa. Since its conception, the NQSF has administered the NQ SportStar awards, the North Queensland Sports Hall of Fame and Move It NQ, a hybrid health and wellbeing app in partnership with federal health organisations.

The initial logo design which remains to this day, was designed by Gordon Esam and is represented as 3 boomerangs making up a human figure.

NQ Games
The NQ Games is a bi-annual, multi-sport festival hosted in different locations across North Queensland. Attracting approximately 4,000 athletes, it was originally underpinned by financial contributions from its major sponsor Suncorp for the first 25 years. The NQ Games are now run sustainably through the Foundation's general operations.

After the inaugural event was held in Townsville in 1984, the 1986 edition of the Games was purported to attract nearly 11,500 competitors from Australia and Paupa New Guinea across 62 sports to the regional hub of Mount Isa creating the town's first ever traffic jam. Notably, the Finals of the Kick Boxing event was held in the middle of West Street where Dick Conlon claimed Gold for Kick Boxing, a mere hour after he had also won Gold in the Boxing Final elsewhere in town.

Barlow Park in Cairns was built to accommodate the Games in 1988, where a turnout of approximately 18,000 visitors enjoyed a range of 58 sports.

Despite the success of its first 3 events, the Foundation was in financial distress at the time of the first Mackay Games in 1990. Executive Director Pat Wright agreed to take on the role without a salary, and Suncorp agreed to a generous sponsorship arrangement to allow the Foundation to clear its books.

The 1996 NQ Games took place in Cairns and was a difficult event, Executive Director Jim Nichols publicly declaring them the 'schizophrenic games'.

Whilst the previous iterations of the games enjoyed participants from 50+ sports, it was determined ahead of the 1998 NQ Games in Mackay to obtain sporting events of a higher standard, at the expense of other sports. Mackay saw 42 sports attract 6000 participants. Notably, Townsville swimmer Penny Bond set a World Masters Record in the 1500m of 17:55:34.

The NQ Games continued successfully through the 2000's. Olympic athletes Brett Aitken, and Bronze medallist Natalie Cooke were notable entrants in Townsville in 2000.

The 2002 Games in Mount Isa were considered a success, but saw the lowest ever turn out of 1790 participants in 27 sports.

The Games continued to be held bi-annually without major hiccups until 2020. The 2020 edition of the NQ Games was postponed to 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The 2024 Games returned to Cairns in its 40th anniversary, generating a $3 million dollar boost for the local economy with approximately 12,000 visitors and 2,000 athletes involved in 19 sports including international competitors from Oceanic counties such as Nauru and Paupa New Guinea. The NQSF was joined by financial partners including the Queensland Government, and the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) who ran community engagement activities to identify talent in regional Queensland ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Sportstar Awards
The North Queensland Sportstar Awards have been held annually since 1991 and are the longest-running dedicated sporting awards in the State of Queensland. First held in March of 1991, the awards recognise the most outstanding junior and senior sportspeople across the region, as well as recognise volunteers and other critical stakeholders in sports organisations.

Notable Winners

 * 1990,1992-1994 Brad Beven OAM (Triathlete) Senior Award
 * 1995 Karrie Webb (Golf) Senior Award
 * 1999 Jo Hamilton (World Champion Water-Skier) Senior Award
 * 2001 Natarsha Williams (BMX World Champion) Senior Award
 * 2002 Diane Reeves (Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Clay Target Shooting) Senior Category
 * 2006 Tracey Hannah (Mountain Biking) Senior Award
 * 2008-2010, 2012 Ashleigh Stebbeings (Multiple World Record Holder, Barefoot Water-Skier) Senior Award
 * 2008 Corey Jensen (Athletics, Professional Rugby League) Junior Award
 * 2009 Ashleigh Southern (Olympic Medallist, Water Polo) Junior Award
 * 2010 Angus MacGregor (World Champion Sailor, Australian Paralympic Soccer Team) Junior Award
 * 2011, 2013, 2017 David Nicholas (2x Paralympic Gold Medallist, Cycling) Athlete with a Disability Award
 * 2011 Melinda McLeod (BMX World Champion) Senior Award
 * 2015 Rhys Dearness (Australian Indoor Cricket) Senior Award
 * 2019 Portia Eden (3x BMX World Champion) Sporting Excellence Award
 * 2021 Grant 'Scooter' Patterson (2x Paralympic Medallist, Swimming) Athlete with a Disability Award
 * 2023 Jake Doran (100m Sprinter) Senior Award