DIY multisport events

Local triathletes will have to go it alone without the regular volunteers and officials for the next couple of weeks as the usual officials for weekly duathlon and triathlon events are in New Zealand competing at the Oceania Masters Athletics Champs.

This means that regular athletes will have to organise among themselves who will set up gear, start the races and time the events.

For the Thursday night duathlon that starts at the Motor Centre, the bike rack pipes will not be brought down however it is easy to just place your bike against the cars or on the grass.

The bike rack pipes and ‘caution triathlon’ signs are already at the Tikioki site and just need putting up and taking down again.

The road marks are still in place and everybody knows where the 4km bike and 1km run turnarounds are .

Regular triathlete and volunteer Jennie George, who is in the team of nine masters athletes heading to New Zealand, is encouraging regular triathletes to take charge of starting races and timing and those keen to take charge of the cone distance markers can collect these from Len Edwards’ home on hospital hill.

To help athletes plan for the absence of the regular volunteers – here are the dates, events and distances of each event to be marked in your calendars.

Dates to remember – Thursday February 2- duathlon (2/8/1) or (2/16/2), Saturday February 4 – triathlon (200/8/2) or (400/16/4), Thursday February 9 – duathlon (2/8/1) or (3/20/2), Saturday February 11 – triathlon (200/8/2) with the enduro option of doing the course 3 times, Thursday February 16 – duathlon (2/8/1) or (3/20/2), Saturday February 18 – stroke and stride (200m swim / 2km run twice) or (400m swim / 4km run twice).