Richard - budget airline Air Asia are starting long haul flights from KL to Europe I believe (but you might need to get to London first to connect), or there is Orient Thai or German airline LTU to Bangkok and then Air Asia to KL...If you go I'll meet you there.
The event name for the Gold Coast race will be released in a couple of weeks, although sponsors are hard to find (as expected in the current economic climate) -
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...oast-news.html