Rarotonga International Triathlon 2013

The Rarotonga International Triathlon took place a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been involved with FilmRaro, a film challenge in which six overseas teams came to Rarotonga and spent two weeks making and editing films; all six were shown last weekend. Fantastic! More about that in a future post.
Back to the tri. Seventy-nine individuals and 26 teams, mainly from the Cook Islands and New Zealand, took part in this, the nineteenth international, and for the first time in several years conditions were perfect; calm lagoon for the swimmers, very little wind to hamper the cyclists and clouds overhead to keep the runners (relatively) cool.
Katu Teiti got things underway with a stirring chant before the swimmers splashed out on their 1500m circuit of Muri lagoon. First out of the water was New Zealander Dave Vernon (19m 38s); he was almost two minutes ahead of last year’s winner Stephen Farrell then followed local girls Vanessa Woodger and Kelly Pick.
The 41km bike leg goes anticlockwise along the main road with a loop up Hospital Hill and around the airport on the back road. The interior of Rarotonga might be mountainous but Hospital Hill is the only section of road to provide any kind of climb. By the time he got back to the Ngatangiia sports field (Nukupure Park) Vernon had increased his lead to about 4 minutes before heading on to the 10km run.
Vernon led from start to finish and came home with a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 16 seconds. Stephen Farrell was second (2:10:13) with top local triathlete Roland Neururer third (2:12:51 – a local race record). Vanessa Woodger was first female and ninth overall (2:22:33 – a personal best).
See more at Cook Islands news here.

Rarotonga International Triathlon - Boiler Swim 2013

The nineteenth Rarotonga International Triathlon was held on 11 May 2013. Besides the main triathlon, several other sporting events take place and the first of these is the Boiler Swim. 
This starts and ends at Trader Jacks on the Avarua waterfront and swimmers head around the remains of the SS Maitai that foundered on the reef in the early part of the 20th century. (Apparently the so-called boiler is actually some other part of the ship's engine but it's been called 'the boiler' for many years and that is likely to continue.)  
This year's winner was Stephen Farrell (NZ) in 10m 28s. 
He was followed by local girls Vanessa Woodger and Kelly Pick then Carlswell Bain (NZ) and local paddler John Beasley.
Next video up will be of the triathlon. Other events include the Hash House Harriers fun run on Monday, Turtles Tour de Raro round-the-island cycle race on Tuesday and the Matutu Mile on Wednesday.

Cook Islands Cricket U19 Tournament

Cook Islands Cricket has big plans for the development of the game, in fact it's hoping to establish 50 new junior teams across six islands during 2013. That's ambitious! So far this year we've had a women's tournament and a national team entered in the Pepsi ICC Twenty20 trophy in January (won by PNG) and during the recent school holidays CIC held an under 19 development tournament for boys. Four teams took part: the Wale (Pukapuka) boys playing for Tupapa, Titikaveka, Turangi-Ngatangiia and the national development team.
The tournament took place over three days at Raemaru Park in Arorangi with each team playing six 15-over matches in that time.
The final game between Tupapa and Titikaveka was a crunch affair as Tupapa had won all five previous matches while Titikaveka had just one loss. If they beat Tupapa games would be tied and there would be a run-rate countback to find the winner. However, it wasn't necessary as the Wale boys went through the tournament undefeated to win the tournament trophy and a cheque for $275.
Pastor Tekaria from Titikaveka was the top batsman having scored 176 runs in six matches.
David Piakura from Turangi-Ngatangiia was top bowler with 15 wickets.
Roland Mino from the national development team was top fielder.
More junior tournaments are planned including ones for under 19 women, under 16 and under 10 boys plus an under 13 world cup tournament for girls.