It was a hat-trick for previous winner Josh White of New Zealand at Saturday’s 16th Air New Zealand Rarotonga Triathlon.

White came home in 2 hours 8 minutes and 22 seconds (2:08:22), becoming the first person to win the event three times.

White also clocked up the fastest cycle time of the day.

Rarotonga once again turned on the sunshine, the clear lagoon and minimal wind for the event, which had the biggest field in its history and was a resounding success.

The 1.5km swim at Muri lagoon was near perfect with hardly any current to contend with, while the 41km cycle leg had a small headwind for the first half of the course, and a welcome slight tailwind heading home.

The run was hot and humid and was very taxing on most athletes with some of the top place-getters shattered at the end.

First female home was Michelle Bremer (NZ) on her first race in Rarotonga in a time of 2:16:17, and taking out 6th place overall.

Shaun Kavanagh (NZ) was 2nd male in 2:09:48 with Carl Read (NZ) taking out 3rd in 2:10:46.

Second female went to local triathlete Kelly Pick (9th overall), who broke the local female record once again by 4:24 and clocking up the fastest female run time of 43:00, flying in at 2:19:03.

Vanessa Palmer, another local, took out 3rd female and 2nd local female in 2:27:01.

Craig Stewart (NZ) was first out of the water, but was unable to out-run Shaun Kavanagh and Carl Read to come in 4th overall in 2:13:21 with Phil Washbourn (5th overall) on his debut, not only taking out first local male, but breaking the local record by 56 seconds, previously held by Geoff Stoddart, coming in at 2:15:37.

Not only that, he took out fastest run time of the day in 38:58.

Rounding up the top 10 was veteran local triathlete Geoff Stoddart in 2:17:35 to take out 7th place and 2nd local male home clocking up the 2nd fastest bike time of the day.

8th went to Simon Maister (NZ) in 2:18:00 and 10th was Andrew Ross (NZ) in 2:19:05. Overall, a fantastic race with the local results showing they are a contingent to be reckoned with.

Roland Neururer took out 3rd local male, 9th male and 11th overall in 2:21:43 while local girl Jennie George was 3rd local female and 7th female overall in 2:38:56.

Mention must also be made of Ryan Helg (NZ), who at just 15-years-old and Raro Tri’s youngest junior individual, completing the course in a fantastic time of 2:26:33, 10th male and 13th overall.

It was a fantastic effort by all 110 individual athletes on a hot and gruelling course.

In the teams event, with 27 teams entered, first team overall was Team 8 (NZ) made up of Maria Dyason, Jim Murphy and Leighton Hunt, coming in at 2:33:24, 2nd team was Coogee (NZ) Robert McGee, Robin Cooper and Justin Cooper in 2:35:09, with 3rd team Team 25 (NZ) Brendan Mahar and Robert McGee in 2:35:30.

First local team home was The Give It A Go’s team of Tonga McBride, Doug Ellingham and Fiona Pekepo in 2:40:30.

First Junior team went to local team Team Cozi made up of Celeste Brown who had a fantastic swim, Jacob Pynenburg and Tom Wicks in a great time of 2:52:33 with Beauties and the Beast taking out 2nd junior team in 3:15:43 made up of locals Emily Barltrop, India Lambeth and Sam Read all at just 12-years-old!

Overall it was a fantastic day with much sweat, smiles, aches, pain, tears and laughter.

We look forward to seeing you all, and more, here next year for Raro Tri 2011.

CITAI would like to thank everyone who took part in the Raro Tri 2010, especially the crowds that cheered everyone on.

A big meitaki maata to the Squash Club ladies for their road marshalling, Ministry of Works for road attendance, Cook Islands Police for motorcycle support, the Girl Guides for manning the water stops and cheering everyone on at the same time, the Rarotonga Sailing Club for your presence on the water and setting the buoys, our road marshals, time keepers, kayakers, Miss Tepaeru Uirangi Bishop for presenting medals, all other volunteers and our committee. Without all your help and support, the event would never be as successful as it was.

Also a huge thank you to all our sponsors Air New Zealand, Edgewater Resort, Island Car & Bike Hire, Westpac, The Computer Man, Vaima Water, CITC Liquor and CITC Pharmacy without whom, this event would not take place.

The full results from the Raro Tri will be published in Tuesday’s Cook Islands News.