The race will be an important part of her 2020 program and her charge towards the Ironman 70.3 world championships in Taupo in November.

The Ironman 70.3 specialist hasn't raced the Mooloolaba Triathlon since 2017, qualifying for and then winning her age group at ITU world championships in Rotterdam.

"I was just curious to see what I could do on the marathon because the run has always been my best leg in triathlon," Roberts said.

"I love running and it was nice to just focus on one thing, but my body couldn't deal with the constant impact from the training.

"Since I got back into triathlon I have done two sprint distance events, so Mooloolaba will be an opportunity to step up the distance again before I start racing 70.3 again."

Roberts was the winner of Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie and Ironman 70.3 New Zealand in 2018, plus she finished fifth in her age group at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in South Africa.

Now she is keen to see if she can step up onto the podium in 2020.

"The Ironman 70.3 worlds are crazy but I still feel like I haven't nailed it yet," she said.

"I still get a bit overwhelmed with it, maybe because I have raced in Taupo before so I might be more chilled, not so overwhelmed and race better."

The diminutive Madi was originally into running and surf lifesaving but her triathlon career kicked off in her hometown of Port Macquarie as a 13-year-old, when she started to literally struggle with the size of the boards being used.

She was lured over by swim squad members training for Ironman Australia.

"I did swimming from a young age and surf lifesaving at Port Macquarie but when I got to the seniors age in surf I didn't want to go up," she said.

"I am small and I had to use the really long boards and it didn't really suit me because I got knocked around in the waves.

"There was a girl in my age group who was doing surf and tri. She would do tri at 6am and come and do nippers afterwards and she would tell me about it. I thought I would way prefer to do triathlon, so I switched over."

After finishing school in 2013, Madi moved up to Gold Coast to attend university and take advantage of Queensland's strong triathlon culture and amazing training environment.

She is excited to be returning to racing and looking forward to getting to the beautiful and very comfortable Sunshine Coast.

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