Sally Pearson has been named Female Athlete of the Year at the AIS Sport Performance Awards in Sydney on Tuesday the 12th of December. Pearson was honoured having closed the door on three years of injury to win her second 100m hurdles victory at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London. The 2012 Olympic Champion, clocked 12.59s to finish ahead of Dawn Harper-Nelson (USA) and Pamela Dutkiewicz (GER). Another contributing factor towards Sally receiving the Female athlete of the Year Award was when she won the Women’s 100m hurdles Diamond League Trophy.
The AIS Sport Performance Awards celebrate the nation’s sporting achievements, with awards for male and female athlete of the year, Para-performance, emerging athlete, international team, coach and leadership. Almost 400 guests gathered at The Star in Sydney to celebrate the year in Australian sport.
Photo credit @salpearson instagram
Australian All School Championships
Friday the 8th of December marked the start of the 2017 Australian All Schools Championships. The competition was held at the SA Athletics Stadium. The competition had 1100 competitors from all states and territories across Australia along with a host of internationals including Fiji, Pakistan, Singapore, NZ, China, Macau and New Caledonia. The competition concluded on Sunday 10th of November after being a successful weekend packed full of broken records. Athletics Australia have posted results from the weekend on their website as well as a story for each day of the competition.
Queens Baton Relay
Since the start of December the Queen’s Baton Relay has travelled from Papua New Guinea to Vanuatu stopping in Samoa along the way. As with most of the visited nations within the Oceania region, locals of the countries all come out to greet the baton and to cheer on the relay runners. A lot of the locals including the runners dressed in traditional celebration attire creating a very traditional atmosphere. It is a special occasion and the different countries celebrate in different ways. PNG celebrated by giving over 150 students across five schools in Port Moresby the chance to hold the Queen’s Baton in between breaks from trying a variety of sports, including rugby league and AFL (Australian Football League), and making their own crayon-coloured mini replica batons.
The Queen’s Baton, was carried by Fernando Rofeta (athletics), as it relayed through Honiara, Solomon Islands, on 6 December 2017. This QueenÕs Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was received at a reception held by the Governor General of Papua New Guinea Sir Bob Dadae, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on 4 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was carried by Millicent Barty (purple dress, Queen’s Young Leader Award recipient) to an afternoon reception at the residence of the British High Commissioner His Excellency David Ward, as it relayed through Honiara, Solomon Islands, on 6 December 2017. This QueenÕs Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was carried by Marcus Bai (rugby League), while being received at the closing ceremony of the PNG Games 2017, in the Sasindran Muthuvel Stadium, in Kimbe, Papua New Guinea, on 2 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was carried by Faeni dancers during a cultural performance, in the Art Gallery, as it relayed through Honiara, Solomon Islands, on 6 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton receives a warm traditional welcome on arrival in Kimbe, Papua New Guinea, on 1 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was received at an evening reception by Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela, with Australian High Commissioner Roderick Brazier, and the Australian High Commisoners’s Governor General’s Own Choir, in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on 5 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
The Queen’s Baton was received at a schools sports festival at the Sir John Guise Stadium, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on 4 December 2017. This Queen’s Baton Relay will engage with all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, over 388 days and cover 230,000km. It will be the longest Relay in Commonwealth Games history, finishing at the Opening Ceremony on the Gold Coast on 4th April 2018.
Next Island to be visited by the QBR will be Norfolk Island.
Pacific Mini Games Update
The Athletics competition of the 2017 Pacific Mini has commenced into its last day. People from all over the world will be able to watch the proceedings on the live stream either via (YouTube) or the Vanuatu 2017 website. The athletics competition of the Pacific Mini Games commenced on Monday the 11th of December and since then there have been many highlights throughout the entire week, one of them being the Women’s 4x100m relay where it was a close race between PNG and Fiji, but due to Fiji’s excellent technique in their baton change overs Fiji took the win. Fiji also won the Men’s 4x100m relay in a very tight Photofinish.
All results of the Pacific Mini Games can be found on the Vanuatu 2017 website.
