Athletics PNG has assembled its men’s middle and long distance training squads in Port Moresby ahead of the PNG Air National Championships , to provide the athletes some much needed lead up competition and to assess the athletes form ahead of the teams departure for Australia for the World Cross Country Championships which will be in Bathurst NSW in February.
PNG Air have sponsored the athletes flights into Port Moresby and Prima Smallgoods are supporting the athletes in camp with donations of meal products.
President Tony Green said that the bulk of the team for the World XC will leave Port Moresby straight after the National Championships, for two months of intensive final preparations for the World Cross Country Championships, with other members of the team joining them later.
Green said that Athletics PNG was looking to select between four and six male athletes for the grueling 10km race and between two and four females and that PNG will also enter a team in the mixed relay.
Two male and two female athletes will run the 4*2km relay. The first lead up race was last week Wednesday when Siune Kagl and Wilford Bai both ran 15min 44 seconds in the 5000m and today the focus was on the 1500m.
Exciting young middle distance prospect Willie Kalai from West New Britain set a hot pace which assisted Aquila Turalom and Abel Siune to clock pleasing times of 4min 07 and 4min 11 secs respectively. Juteis Robinson of ENB was third in 4min 20 secs.
APNG also took the opportunity to give the top 400m runners a good lead up competition ahead of the PNG Air national championships. With national reps Leroy Kamau , Benjamin Aliei , Adolf Kauba and Terrence Talio in the field a close race was expected.
However Aliel was in a determined mood to show that he is still a force to be reckoned with despite an absence from the scene of two years and was a runaway winner with a very impressive time of 47.9 seconds. Adolf Kauba and Leroy Kamau had a good battle for second in which Kauba prevailed with a time of 49.1secs.