The first day of the PNG National Athletics Championships (Friday 26th June) started out with heats of the 400m and 800m events, and two very good finals.

The rains of two days ago had well-and-truly gone and the sky was cloudless, with the sun beating down relentlessly for the next three days. Shade was a much sought after commodity - as were bottles of cold water.

With the Melanesian Championships being held on the Gold Coast in August, the PNG National Athletics Championships were brought forward from September to late June. At this stage most of PNG is experiencing its dry season, but Lae, the venue for the Championships, is experiencing its rainy season, and all will just have to take their chances.

The latest results of Oceania Athletes competing in the United States are now available on the OAA Website.

Thanks go to OAA Honorary Statistician, Fletcher McEwen for continuing to keep us up to date with the latest results and rankings from around the Area.

Go to Development on the left hand side of the OAA home page and click on: Oceania Results US updated 24 June 2009.

The Author Ed. Fern

Ed. is originally from New Jersey in the USA. He started high jumping when he was 14, using the old straddle style in 1968. In 1968 Dick Fosbury won the Mexico Olympics using his new technique, gThe Fosbury Floph.

The island of Niue in the middle of the Pacific Ocean introduced Kids Athletics (KA) to kids at the Niue Primary School on Friday 22nd May 2009. The response from the children was definitely positive and a promising sign for Niue's future in Athletics.

Toea Wisil won a gold and a silver medal in the San Diego Track & Field Championships on Sunday, clocking a huge personal best of 23.79 secs in the 200m and 11.74 seconds in the 100m.

Three lucky athletes from the Oceania Area have been invited to the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin Germany!!!!

The Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) is delighted to announce the 2009 Oceania Grand Prix Squad who will compete at the OAA Grand Prix Series on the Gold Coast, Australia. The Series will take place at Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland and will be conducted in conjunction with the Oceania Regional Championships to be held on the 4, 6, 8 August.

The latest Oceania Rankings for Men and Women are now available on the Oceania website.

The latest Pacific Island rankings are now available on the website. Thanks go the Honorary Oceania Athletic Association, Statistician, Fletcher McEwen for his continued assistance in updating the statistics.

These rankings can be found by going to Development on the left hand side of the OAA Homepage and clicking on Pacific Island Rankings - 10 June 2009.

Niko Verekauta has been welcomed into the newly established Oceania Athletics Association High Performance Training Centre on the Gold Coast after a lay off since attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Verekauta continues with his Olympic Solidarity Scholarship and will continue to train at the High Performance Training Centre through 2009 and 2010 with the hope of looking forward to the London Olympics in 2012.

7 WEEKS TO GO

Early Bird and Teams deadline looming

Enter Now! You have two weeks to enter while the fees are at the `Early Bird' rate. The deadline for `Early Bird' entries and `Team' entries is Wednesday 3 June.

For all the information on the Gold Coast Marathon go to: http://www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au/default.asp?PageID=18244

Remember the Gold Coast Marathon / Half Marathon are Oceania Area Championship events

The Regional Development Centre has recently completed their fourth activity for 2009. this course was the `Athletics at School Pilot Course. It was held at the Super Sports Centre Runaway Bay - Gold Coast Australia.

Malek El Hebil (Senior Manager IAAF) was the chief lecturer of the course and was assisted by Peter Wilson (RDC manager).

On Wednesday the 13th of May Ormeau Stated School grade six class with their teacher Ms Leanne Hines-Smith attended a `Kids Athletics Competition' at the Sports Super Centre Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast. This competition was conducted by the IAAF Regional Development Centre Oceania.

Results for the 209 Guam Marathon and Marathon Team Event are now available on the OAA Website. Go to Competitions on the left hand side of the OAA homepage and go to: Guam Marathon, Marathon Team Results 2009.

For further information, contact, Josephine Pinto: jomar2@me.com

Oceania High Performance Training Centre athlete Salome Dell continued her impressive run of form on Saturday May 9 at Occidental College, Los Angeles with a season's best time of 2min 05.11 seconds. Dell pulled away from the field in the home straight to win the race comfortably.

The Tonga National Championships were held at Teufaiva Stadium, Tonga on the 21st and 22nd April 2009.

The event had over two hundred athletes competing from twelve clubs from throughout Tonga.

A full set of results is now available by going to Competitions on the left hand side of the OAA Homepage and then click on Tonga National Athletics Association Championships 2009.

Also available are the full results from the Tonga Combined Events National Championships at this site.

Congratulations to the Tonga Athletics Association for a successful 2009 National Championships.

The Fiji Athletics Association conducted its National Championships at Post Fiji Stadium, Suva, Fiji Islands over the Easter Weekend.

The full results of the Championships along with results from the Combined Events Championships are now available by going to Competition on the left hand side of the OAA Homepage and clicking on: Fiji Athletics Association National Championship Results 2009 the National Combined Events Championship Results 2009 are also available at this site.

The Tonga National School Championships were held in Tongatapu over three days with a record number of athletes. Over 1000 athletes competed in the Championships to become the coverted Tonga School Champions!

Latest Indoor Rankings the Oceania Region are now available on the Oceania Website. Do to Development on the left hand side of the OAA Homepage and go to: Oceania Indoor Indoor Rankings April 2009.

Thanks to Mr Fletcher McEwen for this invaluable information.

The Draft timetable of events for the Pacific Mini Games is now available on the OAA webpage.

Go to Competitions on the lefthand side of the OAA Home Page and click on: Pacific Mini Games 2009 - Draft Timetable.

For further information contact the OAA Office: oceania@attglobal.net

Day 3 of the Oceania Championships went off without a hitch. A few rain squals tested the athletes and the equipment but that was the worst of it! All in all the day was a great success with some impressive performances on the track and in the field.