Northern athletes miss out on championship

Sports

By PATRICIA KEAMO
A GROUP of Northern athletes will miss this weekend’s PNG Air National Athletics Championships in Port Moresby after they were unable to meet their travel and accommodation costs.
Athletics club Outcast said they had sought assistance from the public and private sectors in the provincial capital of Popondetta, but received no favourable response.
As a result, only two out of 17 athletes — who have been training since October — and a stand-in coach will travel to Port Moresby today ahead of the three-day event which starts in the afternoon.
Outcast have five experienced athletes, including provincial representative Shanna Saofe and Selby Samoka, while the rest are youngsters who are determined to make a name for themselves.
Saofe will compete in the women’s 100m, 200m and 400m while Samoka will look to give his opponents a run for their money in the 1,500m and 8,000m at Sir John Guise Stadium.
Stand-in coach and team manager Audrey McRubins said when she heard about the group preparing for the nationals, she assisted them using experience in the Papua New Guinea karate development squad.
“The Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted sporting activities around the country, so we couldn’t do much training until October,” she said.
“Saofe started representing Northern in athletics in 2014.
“She also represented the province at the PNG Games in Lae, and has played in other regional and national championships.
“She attended the one in Kimbe where she travelled alone as a self-sponsored Northern athlete because the provincial association didn’t have funds to cover all athletes.
“When she competed in the national championships last year, she won gold.”
McRubins said a lot of young Northern athletes had shown interest in competing at the nationals and their training had improved.
“On Friday, we had a meeting with their parents and informed them that most of the athletes had responded well to training,” she said.
“Some parents said their children had stopped hanging out and doing other activities that were not helpful, such as drinking (alcohol).”