Tuesday evening saw the end of Cook Island Triathlon’s week of racing with the much loved Ride Rarotonga Tour de Raro cycle event.

A group of 34 cyclists took off from town heading out towards Tupapa for a fast clockwise lap of the island. It was a draft legal race, meaning that advantage could be gained by cycling close behind the leading bike. This made for a very exciting race and saw the leaders pushing speeds of almost 50kmph at times.

Locals Roland Neururer and Alyce Edwards quickly took off and formed a small leading bunch with Brent Knight. These three worked successfully together for the entire race and a tremendously exciting finish saw Alyce win the race in a time of 44:31:90.

It is the first time in the history of the race that the overall winner has been a lady and huge congratulations go to Alyce for this achievement. Only 3/100s of a second separated the placings and 1st Male finisher was Brent Knight who finished in a time of 44:32:20, Roland was next across the line in 44:32:70 to take the 1st local male spot.

It was fun to see a tandem taking part in the race, and whilst not a legal entry for finish spots, Jakub Postrzygacz and Adrianna Skurosz had a great lap of the island to finish with the 2nd pack of Bryn Parry, Lucy McDonald and Greg Morgan in a time of 49:56

Prizes generously donated by Ride Rarotonga were given to all finishers and concluded what was an amazingly successful week.

CITAI president Roland Neururer said: “It was fantastic to see everyone here again for our triathlon week, this is a really special time in the calendar and one which brings in many visitors at a time we really wanted them, so we are pleased that triathlon was able to do this”.

Neururer also wishes to thank the Cook Islands Police who were extremely helpful in keeping the roads clear for the cyclists and making sure that everyone was safe, and all the volunteers and marshals who helped at the cycle race and throughout the week of events.

“Without them, events of this nature just couldn’t happen.”

The next big event in the calendar is the Tinman triathlon on Saturday 15th May. This is the National Championship and the distances are 1200m swim, 31K cycle and 10K run. Locals are encouraged to enter either as an individual athlete or as part of a team. Email jennieinraro@gmail.com if you would like to enter.