Mount Maunganui To Host Oceania Triathlon Sprint, Mixed Relay & Para Championships

Auckland, 22 January 2025

Mount Maunganui’s majestic waterfront will serve as the backdrop to one of the showpiece weekends on the Oceania Triathlon calendar.

The Bay of Plenty tourism hot spot has been awarded hosting rights to the 2025 Oceania Sprint, Mixed Relay & Para Triathlon Championships with the March 29-30 event to be headquartered out of Hopukiore Reserve (Mount Drury) on Marine Parade.

Oceania’s finest elite triathletes will race for individual Continental glory on the Saturday (women 8am/men 9:15am) before teaming up to chase trans-Tasman teams’ bragging rights in Sunday’s Mixed Relay (10am).

Before the mixed relay, the Oceania Para Triathlon Championships will take centre stage from 8am on the Sunday.

The sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) course is almost a carbon copy of that used for the Bay Radiology NZ Schools Championships in early 2024 and includes a beach start – with potential breaking surf implications – off Moturiki Island (Leisure Island).

Athletes competing in the para events will race over the same course, save for a slight alteration to the Marine Parade run course.

The mixed relay will be staged over shorter 300m swim, 6km bike and 1.5km swim legs with a female-male-female-male cadence per the new order for the LA ‘28 Olympic Games cycle (reversing the order from Paris ‘24).

Tri NZ CEO Pete de Wet is thrilled to bring World Triathlon-sanctioned racing to Mount Manganui and is particularly excited about the para component set to play out in and on the iconic “Mount” waterfront.

“Tri NZ has set a goal to become the most inclusive and accessible community sport in New Zealand and the Oceania Triathlon Para Championships is the first in a series of Para events we’re bidding to bring to Aotearoa over the next four years,” de Wet said.

“The objective is to open up triathlon to people of all physical abilities. Through this community engagement, Tri NZ hopes to identify and develop New Zealand’s first triathlon Paralympians in time for LA 2028 and our ‘home’ Games, Brisbane 2032.

“This will create a group of extraordinary and inspiring role models that have the ability to really challenge society to think differently about people with disabilities.”

Mount Manganui’s big weekend follows the blue-riband event of the Kiwi triathlon summer – World Triathlon Cup Napier on February 23.

The Napier Triathlon Festival is the sole Oceania stop on World Triathlon’s second tier circuit and incorporates the Tri NZ Suzuki Series Age Group Sprint Championships, the official qualifier for October’s World Triathlon Age Group Championships in Wollongong, Australia.

Devonport in Tasmania and Runaway Bay on Queensland’s Gold Coast will host the summer’s two other Oceania Triathlon events – the combined elite and U23 standard distance championships (plus the and Junior U19/sprint championships) in Tasmania, and the Super Sprint championships on the “GC”.

Oceania Elite Summer of Triathlon

Feb. 23
World Triathlon Cup Napier (Sprint)*
March 15-16
Oceania Championships | Mersey Bluff,Devonport, TAS **
March 29-30
Oceania Sprint & Mixed Relay Championships | Mount Maunganui
March 30
Oceania Triathlon Para Championships | Mount Maunganui
May 3-4
Oceania Super Sprint Championships | Runaway Bay, Gold Coast, QLD
Oct. 15-19
World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Finals Wollongong | Australia***

NB:

* The Napier Triathlon Festival incorporates the Tri NZ Suzuki Series Age Group Sprint Championships, an official qualifier for the World Triathlon Age Group Championships Wollongong in Oct. ** Elite & U23 (Standard Distance) & Junior (U19/Sprint)

*** Incorporates the World Triathlon Age Group Championships

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