Auckland lines up host deal

TRIATHLON NEW ZEALAND is on the verge of securing a future hosting deal, with International Triathlon Union secretary general Loreen Barnett saying her organisation is ‘‘ready to sign on the dotted line’’.

Outside the Olympic Games, the ITU’s world series grand final is the most prestigious event on the global calendar.

And after Auckland proved its worth hosting a lesser world cup event last year, Barnett says this week’s grand final has been run with excellence, and a new hosting deal is close to being signed.

‘‘We look for inner, global, iconic cities and obviously, we’ve found it here,’’ Barnett told the Sunday Star-Times.

‘‘We’re ready to sign on the dotted line as soon as the city and everyone else can find their side of the agreement.

‘‘I really hope that within the coming weeks we’ll be able to make an agreement.

‘‘ We definitely need to be in Oceania and we have found the professionalism of this organising committee, and the strength of the national federation, to be everything we need.’’

Canada’s Barnett said, for the first time at an ITU grand final, the event had been so well organised that the ITU could ‘‘ just relax’’ about its execution.

‘‘The ITU is extremely happy so far. Our team feel that, really for the first time at a grand final, they can concentrate on tiny details because the big items are managed so well. That makes such a difference because at no point have we been in a frantic state.’’

Barnett said it was too soon to say whether Auckland had hosted the best ever grand final. But, she said, it’s on course.

She also complimented the demanding Auckland course, which had input from New Zealand veteran Bevan Docherty, saying the unusually hilly city landscape of Auckland offers an important point of difference. ‘‘It tests their true abilities as allround triathletes. To find a big, inner city where you can get those hills is really rare.’’