The Athletes will be housed in five schools in Port Vila – INTV, Lycee Louis Antoine de Bouganville, Ecole d’Anabrou, Fres Wota Bilingual School and Central School. These facilities will be upgraded and additional temporary washroom blocks will be put in place to ensure the Athletes are well looked after.
The athletes will sleep on solid, brand-new double bunks, and be provided with a thick mattress, pillow and sheets. Blankets will definitely not be needed in December. At the conclusion of the Games the schools will take possession of the beds and bedding. It is all part of the legacy, which is so important for the Pacific Games.
A new Convention Centre has recently been built, and it will be the major location for athletes’ services. It is currently the venue for a big African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Meeting. It will house the main dining room, entertainment facilities, merchandising stalls and information services. The athletes will be bussed in from the five different villages for their meals. Some meal services will also be available at the various venues where the sporting schedule makes it difficult for the competitors to get to the Convention Centre in time for the meal.
Good progress is being made on the Korman Stadium Complex. The majority of the sports will take place in this area, and the Athletics track will be ready for use in October, in time for Athletics Vanuatu to have their final trials for the Games.
They will get big crowds who will be anxious to experience the re-imagined Korman Stadium and also to see how the locally trained athletes will fare against the 70+ athletes who are now training in China. Interest will be running high, and will help bring about greater community awareness of the Games which are due to start on 4th December, with the Opening Ceremony.
There will be nineteen countries participating in the Athletics programme – the most for any of the sports. Our sport will take centre stage for four days – from the 11th to the 14th of December.
The clock is ticking for all of the Pacific’s athletes as they work towards another peak in December. Good luck to you all in your training schedule. We hope that you all remain injury free.
The most tangible legacy for the Athletics fraternity will be a wonderful home-base for Athletics Vanuatu and also Oceania Athletics where the Melanesian Athletics Championships will be held from in May of 2018. Not only a good all-weather track will be in place for the future, but all of the essential equipment such as hurdles, steeplechase barriers, pole vault and high jump equipment, good horizontal jumping pits and the safety cage for the discus and hammer.
