Defending champions Roland Neururer and Adrianna Skurosz retained the Cook Islands Triathlon Association Annual Maori Auri Tinman competition on Saturday.

The morning dawned calm and sunny, but whilst the committee were preparing the transition and race area the wind started blowing and small waves formed in the lagoon.

The competitors gathered to increasingly unsettled conditions, but that didn't deter the 30 strong athletes from their afternoon pursuit in the 41^st edition of the annual event. The race, a 1200 metre swim, followed by a 31-kilometre cycle of one lap around the island and then a 10km run had a field of nine individual and seven teams competing.

The individual race had some strong competition with Roland Neururer and Jason Moorfield battling hard for top honours in the men’s field and Adrianna Skurosz looking to defend her title against a strong field in the women’s event.  At the same time the teams, who each completed one or two of the disciplines, were trying to get ahead of the individual competitors and their opposing team rivals in the hard fought team battle.

The swim had a fair amount of chop and current and young swimmers Seychelle Carter and Maya Postrzygacz showed the field the way with amazing swims for their respective teams Team Killer B’s and 3 P’s in a Squad, exiting the water ahead of the pack, with first individual competitor Neururer not far behind. 

Onto the bike and a headwind made the first part of the round island loop tough, Neururer and Moorfield blazed a trail with Lucy McDonald making up places and recording the fastest female cycle of the day, with Geoff Stoddart also cycling strong for the Killer B’s. Tarina Moorfield put in a great cycle for her team Chicks that Crank.

Strength on the run is often what makes the day and this was true for Neururer who had the fastest run in the individual competition and came home to claim the title for an amazing 13^th consecutive time (2 hours 7.39 minutes). Jason Moorfield (2.12:11 hours)  was close behind in second place with Mike Carr (2.27:21 hrs) placing third in his 33^rd Tinman competition. 

In the ladies event Adrianna Skurosz (2. 13:22 hrs) showed her continued strength to claim the title for a fifth time, also this is her fourth win in a row, ahead of Joanna Sobocinska (2.21:59 hrs) who showed her strong running form to claim second place ahead of Lucy McDonald (2.24:21 hrs) who placed third.

In the team’s race, The Killer B’s had led from the front and team runner Greg Gustafson put in a superb run to seal the win for the team in 2 hours 7:38 minutes.  In second place in the team’s division was team Tri Tripple Tripplers made up of Alun, Andrew and Pip who held off very stiff competition to storm home in victorious second, followed by our juniors who are all under 16 years of age, 3 P’s in a Squad siblings Maya, Olivia and Edmund who all have amazing talent and potential and performed superbly well to beat many seasoned competitors and adults,

The Maori Auri Tinman Race is the Cook Islands Triathlon National Championship and congratulations are extended to reigning national champions for 2023 Neururer and Skurosz. 

Cook Islands Triathlon Association would like to extend their grateful thanks to all the marshals and volunteers without whom the race wouldn’t happen, to the landowners the Raina Family for their generous use of the land and to The Bond Store for their wonderful sponsorship of prizes for the winners.

Next in the calendar is the week of events showcasing the Air New Zealand Rarotonga Triathlon, which starts with the CITC Boiler swim on Thursday, May 4, the Olympic Distance Triathlon on Saturday, May 6, and the Ride Rarotonga Tour de Raro Cycle Race on Tuesday, May 9.  CITAI would love to see entries from locals wishing to enter the Air New Zealand Rarotonga Triathlon, either as individual entrants or in a team. 

Full details can be found on the website www.rarotri.com.