PNG’s three teams competed well in the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst NSW last Saturday.
The mixed relay team of Aquila Turalom, Scholastic Herman , Dilu Goiye and Mary Kua completed the race in 29min 42 secs , over five minutes ahead of Fiji, the only other Pacific Island nation to enter a team in this race.
Herman was outstanding on the second leg, gaining a place by passing the Refugee team runner.
Next up was the womens 10km race which saw Mary Tenge run a strong race behind Sharon Firisua of Solomon Islands and Nathania Tan of Saipan, with Ongan Awa and Scholastica Herman just behind Tenge.
However the race ended in some confusion as it was abandoned when the PNG girls and a few others still had one lap to go.
With a thunderstorm approaching, organisers were concerned about the safety risks and brought forward the start time of the mens race by 20min.
The five PNG boys all ran very well with Siune Kagl leading them home in 36min 18 seconds from James Kuadua, (36:44) Abel Siune (37:48) , Aquila Turalom (38:09) and Israel Takap (38:51).
Many observers commented that this was probably the toughest course in the history of the event with hills, lots of turns and a few obstacles to disrupt the athletes rhythm.
Coach Brett Green was very happy with the mens team and with Herman and Tenge in particular from the womens team.
He challenged the athletes to now focus on the Queensland Championship races in 1500m , 3000m and 3000m steeplechase which will be held in Brisbane early in March.
These events are a great opportunity for the athletes to run personal best times and perhaps set national records, and show the benefit of the hard training that has been done over the past three months.