| Sports |
Our women smash 4x100m relay record
The PNG women’s 4x100m relay team has broke the national record on
at the Telstra A series meet on Saturday night in Sydney.
The quartet of Mae Koime, Toea Wisil, Cecilia Kumalalamene and
Raphaela Baki lowered the record time by eight seconds to set a
new national record of 47.13. The previous record of 47.97 was
recorded in the last South Pacific Games in Guam.
Koime gave the team a good start and handed to the in-form Wisil
who held her own down the back straight against Australia's best.
Kumalalamene ran the third leg and Raphaela Baki brought the baton
home for PNG in fifth place in a field of nine teams.
The men’s team also gave a good account of themselves in Sydney
and had a valuable race in preparation for the SP Games later in
the year. The team of Andrew Doonar Wally Kirika, Henry Ben and
Anton Lui also finished fifth in their race, clocking 41.10
seconds.
Coach Lloyd way was quite pleased with the boys’ performance,
which is a little over half a second outside the 40.57 seconds
they clocked at last years Commonwealth Games.
Koime and Wisili competed in an individual race both finishing
fifth in high quality fields (in the 100m and 200m).
Athletics Australia Competition director David Gyther praised the
PNG team on their professionalism and thanked them for
contributing to what was a great night of athletics in Sydney,
with five World Championship A qualifying performances being
recorded.
However, the Australia teams did not achieve the qualifying marks
in either the men’s or women’s 4x100m relay which means that the
PNG teams will soon get another opportunity to run relay races.
PNG Athletic Union president Tony Green said this was likely to
happen at the Australian National Championships in Brisbane on
March 9-11.
Meanwhile, PNG teams is now eagerly looking forward to the
Queensland Championships this weekend in Brisbane
Oceania athletics statistician Bob Snow said both PNG relay teams
performed well at the Telstra A Series meet.
He said the women far exceeded expectations when they took a
massive 8th tenths of a second off the national record that has
stood since the South Pacific Games in Guam (1999). The key to
their success was the slick baton changes that allowed each runner
to be close to full speed when they received the baton.
The men 4x100m relay pitted the PNG team against Australian and
New Zealand teams who were trying to qualify for the World
Championships in Osaka, Japan, in August. The team of Andrew
Doonar, Wally Kirika, Henry Ben and Anton Lui ran the fastest ever
time by a non-Games team - 41.10 seconds. All the faster clockings
have come from teams competing in the SPG, MSPG, and the
Commonwealth Games.
He said the key to their fast time was the good baton changes
which ensured that they could run close to their full potential.
Snow said the competition for places on the men’s relay team for
Apia was heating up. The wealth of talent in the short sprint
ensures that the six squad-members chosen for the Games team will
be able to run faster than this time and hopefully challenge the
NR of 40.29 seconds set by the team to the 1995 SPG in Tahiti, he
said.
 
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