Athlete Boram heads to US on scholarship

Sports

Twenty-year-old Esther Boram from New Hanover, New Ireland, is the latest Papua New Guinea athlete to head to the United States on scholarship.
Now going under her father’s name, Boram is known in athletics circles as Esther Simon and travelled to Roswell, New Mexico, earlier this month to take up a full scholarship at New Mexico Military Institute.
Boram completed her Grade 10 at New Hanover High School in 2012 before going on to complete her Grade 12 at Namatanai Secondary School in 2014.
She first came to the attention of Athletics PNG at the 2013 national championships in Kokopo where she won the Under-18  800m in 2min 29 secs.
Following completion of her secondary education Boram stayed home for a year before relocating to Lae where, at the beginning of last year, she was drafted into the Athletics PNG training programme.
In Lae, she has had other national squad members to train with including Tuna Tine, Jenny Albert, Nancy Malamut and Raylyne Kanam.
Lae-based Athletics PNG secretary Philip Rehder said that one of the objectives of the Lae training programme, apart from keeping athletes in the sport, was to prepare them for opportunities like this.
“When we were contacted by the cross country coach at New Mexico Military Institute a few months ago we were able to recommend Esther, and it’s a great opportunity for her,” added Rehder.
“It’s a full scholarship with everything taken care of.
“If she does well in school and in cross country she has an excellent chance of going onto a university for a further two year scholarship.”