By Duncan Mackay

Renato BertrandiJune 13 - Italian Renato Bertrandi has been re-elected as the President of the European Triathlon Union (ETU) during the organisation's Congress in Alanya, Turkey.


Bertrandi had been acting as the ETU's interim President since Eilat last year, but will now serve a full four-year term until 2017.

Britain's Sarah Springman stepped down from the ruling ETU Board which allowed France's Denis Jaeger to be elected to the role of vice-president.

Another Briton, Ian Howard, was elected to the Board, along with Ireland's Chris Kitchen, replacing Portugal's Henrique Arraiolos and Greece's George Yerolympos. 

Kathleen Smet, the secretary general from Belgium, and treasurer Alicia Garcia, from Spain, were both re-elected, along with Board members, Luxembourg's Eugene Kraus and Poland's Kris Piatkowski. 

In line with the constitution, the Board still need to elect a third woman onto the Board and they will now begin the process of coopting another member.

ETU Board June 2013The ETU Board from left to right: Chris Kitchen, Kris Piatkowski, Eugene Kraus, Alicia Garcia, Sarah Springman, Renato Bertrandi, Denis Jaeger, Ian Howard and Kathleen Smet

This will be for a period of one year before the next General Assembly were there will be elections for one position on the Board.

"I was very happy to see so much participation at the Congress, also by the two National Federations that are, at present, just provisional members, Georgia and Armenia," said Bertrandi.

"There was a great spirit of collaboration and friendliness among all Federations that made the overall Congress constructive and focused on the challenging tasks that we will face in the years to come.

"The new Executive Board and almost all Committees are completed or they will be by mid-July.

"By mid July, two commissions will be created, one to work on races and the other on marketing.

"After having completed the financial recovery we now have to explore, in a structured way, the possibility of getting financial help from partners interested into our product and values."

Howard, the President of British Triathlon and a senior vice-president at Siemens, brings more than 20 years experience in the sport to the ETU Executive Board.

"I am delighted to join the Executive Board of the ETU and to pick up and continue the good work of Dr Sarah Springman who has stood down to concentrate on her International Triathlon Union role as first vice-president," said Howard.

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