Delight over Auckland hosting triathlon leg

Triathlon New Zealand organisers are delighted to have wrestled a leg of the ITU World Series off Sydney.

Auckland has effectively replaced the Australian city as host of the opening round of the World Series for the next four years.

Event CEO Dave Beeche, says it's a great chance to grow the sport here.

"You can argue a case either way - that it's good to have two events in the region or one, but look either way it's fantastic for the sport, it's fantastic for Auckland and New Zealand and we're really looking forward to rolling this on."

He says while it's only six months until the race, they have the relationships and essential factors in place to make it happen.

The World Championship Grand Final over the weekend featured a number of tough hill climbs on the bike leg.

Dave Beeche says it could be altered slightly for the race in April.

"We'd like to include a couple more iconic things around Auckland so we're taking a look at some options around the museum and a few other bits and pieces so just again keep lifting the bar, keep it innovative and make it a good challenge for them."

He says having just hosted the year-end race will be a huge help.

"Relationships most importantly - key suppliers, council, traffic, (transport) - they're all in place and this is now the second year we've run it so next year will be the third and it will ultimately become, hopefully, the triathlon of Auckland."

Photo: Javier Gomez winning the men's Grand Final (Photosport)