50 Days to go till the Oceania Regional Championships! With hundreds of athletes training and getting prepared for the big event coming up there is excitement in the air. There is a total of 24 teams coming from all over Oceania and parts of Asia. There will be 6 divisions for the event: under 18, under 20, open, masters, and para ambulatory and para wheelchair. We are expecting some exciting races and high enthusiasm as we have some of the best runners in Oceania coming out for the big championships. From Papua New Guinea we have Olympian runner Toea Wisil running the 100m, 200m and the 400m. From the Cook Islands, we have Alex Damian who participated in the Rio Olympics last summer running the 800m in 1:52.76. The home team Fiji with the biggest roster of over 160 athletes, have many title holders on their team like 2 time Olympian Leslie Copeland who will be throwing Javelin at the event and national record holder Mustafa Fall for shot put. The Federated States of Micronesia has a smaller team, but still bringing in some competitive athletes. Darla Jonah of the FSM just 15 will be running the under 18 200m and has a time of 26.44. The Norfolk Islands another smaller team of just 2 woman Tayanita Robertson and Charlie Carr, will be competing in the under 18 sprints and jumps. Tuvalu with a roster of less than 10 has a strong javelin thrower Mr. Vaiuli Nukualofa whose personal best is 49.13 meters. The Marshall Islands Terose David will be competing competitively in the under 18 100m and 200m sprints. George Molisingi the fastest sprinter of Vanuatu will be competing in the 100m and 200m men’s open. All the way from Malaysia is runner Russel Nasir Taib, he will be the only athlete coming from Malaysia. He is running the under 20 100m and 200m, his best time for the 200m is 21.75. Australia with the second biggest roster will be bringing their biggest team yet with more than 150 athletes. At the last Oceania Championships, they brought in 12 gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze giving them the lead in medal counts, so we will see if they can keep their seat at the top this year or if another team will take it. Among the large teams is New Zealand they will be bringing over 50 athletes. They will be bringing many great athletes along with National Javelin bronze medallist Alex Wood, with a best of 70.63 meters. The regional Australian team has many competitive atheletes one in particular is William Vince-Moin a young man running in the under 20 para 400meters with a personal best of 62.32. Representing Nauru is less than 20 of their finest athletes, many of which will be participating in the 4×100 relays. Guam coming from the North Pacific will be bringing a few athletes, one of them will be Genie Gerardo a shot put thrower with a personal best of 10.67m. Another thrower from Wallis and Fortuna Ms. Marie Rose Fiahau throwing shot put in the under 8 with a best of 11.13. From the Northern Marianas a strong discus thrower Analei Santos in the under 18 division with a best of 29.37 meters. Under 18 hammer thrower from New Caledonia Ashley Bologna with a personal best of 46.62m. Pole vaulting for Tahiti is Matheo Lada, competing in the under 20 category with a personal best of 4.30m. We are very excited to see all the teams in action. Over the next 50 days we will be sending out more information on all the teams.
