Grand Prix Series set

A TOTAL of 27 national squad athletes from around the country will descend on Port Moresby this week for the first part of the PNG Air Grand Prix Series.
The series will see the country’s best athletes compete against each other for the first time since the PNG Air National Athletics Championships last December.
Sponsored by PNG Air, the event will follow a similar format to the big international one-day meetings where the best available athletes are invited to take part.
The Grand Prix is an elite competition aimed at athletes who are vying for places in teams for international events next year.
The programme also caters for national athletes who are participating in events for which there are not many competitors and is also a talent identification exercise for those events.
Whilst most of the running events are now closed for entries, there is still space for National Capital District-based athletes in the jumps and throws as well as the 400m hurdles.
Full details of the competition can be found on the athletics PNG Facebook page and website or by emailing [email protected].
Athletics Papua New Guinea president Tony Green said that it was important to keep the athletes motivated and focused on their training towards next year.
“We had to defer the national championships for reasons beyond our control,” he said.
“We are very grateful for the PNG Air support to meet this vital need for competition at this time.”
Strong competition is expected in the men’s sprints with National Sports Institute-based trio Paias Wisil, Jonathan Dende and Alphonse Igish ready to challenge Port Moresby-based sprinters.
“Young Graham Bai, from Kimbe, West New Britain, is also expected to feature strongly,” Green said.
“The men’s and women’s middle distance events are also expected to be very competitive with the Utmei-based athletes primed to take on the Highlands-based athletes after positing some very good times in their inter-house carnival last week.”
The competition will consist of three meets of just two hours’ duration, starting at 4pm on Friday, continuing on Saturday morning and then the last session on Monday morning.