diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
index 06299b43ba..6f405244aa 100755
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+import concurrent.futures
 import datetime
 import time
 import requests
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ class Gitea(object):
         self.projects = projects
         self.orgs = { f['project'].split('/')[0] for f in  self.projects }
         self._log = []
+        self.session = requests.Session()
 
     def log(self, *args):
         now = datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat()
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ class Gitea(object):
         return "\n".join(self._log)
 
     def request(self, method, endpoint, *args, **kwargs):
-        resp = requests.request(
+        resp = self.session.request(
             method,
             urllib.parse.urljoin(self.url, endpoint),
             auth=('root', self.password),
@@ -91,20 +93,22 @@ class Gitea(object):
 
     def get_csrf_token(self):
         resp = self.get('/')
-        return urllib.parse.unquote(resp.cookies.get('_csrf'))
+        return urllib.parse.unquote(self.session.cookies.get('_csrf'))
 
-    def make_gitea_project(self, project, csrf_token, create_project=True):
+    def make_gitea_project(self, project, csrf_token):
         org, repo = project['project'].split('/', 1)
-        if create_project:
-            resp = self.post(
-                '/api/v1/org/{org}/repos'.format(org=org),
-                json=dict(
-                    auto_init=True,
-                    description=project.get('description', '')[:255],
-                    name=repo,
-                    private=False,
-                    readme='Default'))
+        resp = self.post(
+            '/api/v1/org/{org}/repos'.format(org=org),
+            json=dict(
+                auto_init=True,
+                description=project.get('description', '')[:255],
+                name=repo,
+                private=False,
+                readme='Default'))
         self.log("Created repo:", project['project'])
+
+    def update_gitea_project_settings(self, project, csrf_token):
+        org, repo = project['project'].split('/', 1)
         if project.get('use-storyboard'):
             external_tracker_url = SB_REPO.format(org=org, repo=repo)
             tracker_url_format = SB_FORMAT
@@ -114,7 +118,6 @@ class Gitea(object):
         else:
             external_tracker_url = LP_REPO.format(repo=repo)
             tracker_url_format = LP_FORMAT.format(repo=repo)
-
         self.post(
             '/{org}/{repo}/settings'.format(org=org, repo=repo),
             data=dict(
@@ -130,9 +133,15 @@ class Gitea(object):
                 external_tracker_url=external_tracker_url,
                 tracker_url_format=tracker_url_format,
                 tracker_issue_style='numeric',
-            ))
+            ),
+            allow_redirects=False)
+        # Set allow_redirects to false because gitea returns
+        # with a 302 on success, and we don't need to follow
+        # that.
         self.log("Updated tracker url:", external_tracker_url)
 
+    def update_gitea_project_branches(self, project, csrf_token):
+        org, repo = project['project'].split('/', 1)
         for count in range(0, 5):
             try:
                 self.post(
@@ -142,7 +151,11 @@ class Gitea(object):
                         _csrf=csrf_token,
                         action='default_branch',
                         branch='master',
-                    ))
+                    ),
+                    allow_redirects=False)
+                # Set allow_redirects to false because gitea returns
+                # with a 302 on success, and we don't need to follow
+                # that.
                 self.log("Set master branch:", project['project'])
                 return
             except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
@@ -150,6 +163,8 @@ class Gitea(object):
         raise Exception("Could not update branch settings")
 
     def run(self):
+        thread_pool = concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor()
+        futures = []
         gitea_orgs = self.get_gitea_orgs()
         gitea_repos = []
         for org in self.orgs:
@@ -164,8 +179,23 @@ class Gitea(object):
                 create = False
             else:
                 create = True
+            if create:
+                # TODO: use threadpool when we're running with
+                # https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/7493
+                self.make_gitea_project(project, csrf_token)
             if create or self.always_update:
-                self.make_gitea_project(project, csrf_token, create)
+                futures.append(thread_pool.submit(
+                    self.update_gitea_project_settings,
+                    project, csrf_token))
+                futures.append(thread_pool.submit(
+                    self.update_gitea_project_branches,
+                    project, csrf_token))
+        for f in futures:
+            try:
+                r = f.result()
+            except Exception as e:
+                self.log(str(e))
+        thread_pool.shutdown()
 
 
 def ansible_main():