Stoddart keeps Oceania triathlon position

Cook Islander Geoff Stoddart has been re-elected as president of the Oceania Triathlon Union in an international meeting currently being held in Beijing.

Stoddart is in China representing the Oceania region of New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands at the Inter- national Triathlon Unions annual meeting and the Oceania Triathlon Unions biennial congress.

He has also taken time to participate in some of the events being held in the Chinese capital as part of the grand final of the ITUs triathlon world championships.Stoddart raced in the age group event, which included a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.

He said the course was tough with a long swim, a hilly bike course and six hills during the run.

Stoddart finished 18th place out of 78 men in his age group in a time of 2 hours 27 minutes 4 seconds, posting the fifth best cycle time of 1.06.

During his time off the course, Stoddart was re-elected as president of the Oceania Triathlon Union despite the ITU reducing the size of its board.

He will have two vice presidents working with him in the upcoming term, one from Australia and one from New Zealand.

Stoddart said he was happy with the changes made to the board structure and the size of the Oceania contingent, saying the numbers allow administration, budget and sports event decisions to be made in an efficient manner. New Zealand will stage the next ITU triathlon world championship grand final in October 2012.

It will be held on a course designed around the downtown Auckland Rugby World Cup cloud building, which will be the changeover point from swim to bike to run.

The world championships of triathlon were last held in New Zealand seven years ago in 2003.

With the event close to the Cook Islands, it is expected several of the better Rarotonga-based athletes will attend.