With over 500 athletes and 100 Technical Officials the Melanesian Championships were a huge success for the region. It’s been a big year with three Regional Championships with the Polynesian Championships in April, the Micronesian Championships in June and finally the Melanesian Championships in July.
Prior to the Championships a CECS 3 Jumps course was held and Life Member of Oceania Athletics Association – Fletcher McEwen was the lecturer. Participants came from all over the region and we hope they take their new found skills back to their Federations and pass on their knowledge to athletes and other coaches.
An Oceania Officials course was also held and was taken by Anthony Curry. A number of the Fijian officials were in attendance with the main aim to update them on the latest rules and interpretations.
A Youth Activity was also held in Partnership with the Fiji National Olympic Committee where all athletes attended the expo. The expo proved very popular with the athletes.
The Championships featured a live television broadcast around Fiji and also live streaming which allowed supporters from around Oceania that couldn’t be there to see the action unfold in Suva.
We had an Olympic Qualifer to Toea Wisil on Day 3 after the 100m was run the other way up the home straight to take advantage of the favorable wind. A number of National Records were broken and new Personal Best performances were set.
This was a Championship that will be remembered by all in attendance.
Our thanks must go to the Athletics Fiji Local Organising Committee and in particular Selwyn Williams (Athletics Fiji Administration Manager) for their work leading into the Championships.
During the Championships we unveiled our new website which during the Championships had just under 10000 visitors. Once again our Social Media Channels proved popular with large viewing, likes and shares throughout the Championships.
We look forward to welcoming all the Oceania Member Federations to Fiji next year for the 2017 Oceania Area Athletics Championships to be held on the 29th, 30th June and 1st July.
