Good effort by local athletes at NZ triathlon

Cook Islands triathletes registered impressive results at the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman at the weekend.

All six local athletes that tackled the gruelling 2km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km course finished the race and so did the athletes that competed in the teams event.

Veteran racer and Cook Islands Triathlon Association president Geoff Stoddart registered the fastest time of the local group finishing the race in 4:56:09 and taking out fourth place overall in the mens 55 to 59 division.

Youngest local competitor Jacob Pynenburg placed second in his under 19 age division in a time of 6:20:27 with the only other competitor in the division, Conor OSullivan of Kaitaia, finishing the race in 5:34:38.

Taki Anaru and Apii Napa, competing in their second Port of Tauranga Half Ironman, both had great races with Anaru wrapping up the course in 5:28:31 and Napa finishing in 6:21:54.

In her first year competing as an individual athlete at the annual event physiotherapist Pare Tangata clocked 7:06:20 in what was a commendable effort by the local woman.

Kelly Pick was set to race in the open womens elite division however the newlywed decided not to race the event.

In the teams division local women Debbie Moore, Anna Staples and Katherine Reid competed as team Island Girls and finished in 6:13:27 while local businessman Richard Vinsen joined Daniel Maxwell and Mark Lenaarts to finish in 4:32:54 to place fourth overall out of 61 teams.

More photos and report from the event to follow.