Tuesday, 5 July 2011
This year’s Oceania Marathon and Half Marathon Championships which were proudly supported by Samsung and the IAAF, have seen a record number of Member Federations and Pacific Islander athletes compete at the Championships.
The day started bright an early with the Half Marathon and the old men of Tahiti, Georges Richmond and Frederic Burquier of French Polynesia starting off strongly. George and Frederic lead the race between the Pacific islanders for the first 10km, until Papua New Guinea’s Kupsy Bisamo slowly pushed ahead of Frederic to secure second placed Pacific Island athlete. Kupsy ran a personal best in a time of 1:11.35. The final finish placing’s were an equal mix of PNG and French Polynesia athletes with 1st place going to Georges Richmond (1:10.31), 2nd Kupsy Bisamo (1:11.35), 3rd Frederic Burquier (1:12.25) and 4th Sapolai Yao (1:12.45).
There is no doubt that this race will give Richmond the psychological race heading into the Pacific Games in New Caledonia in early September. Georges will compete in the 5000m, 10000m and Marathon at the Games whilst Burquier will only run the Marathon.
Both Richmond and Burquier had been to the Paris Marathon in April and they rated the Gold Coast event better than the Paris event – quite a wrap for this Championship event.
Chris Votu and Alan McNeil went close to their personal bests in 1:14.45 and 1:30.11 respectively. On top of these great results Alan McNeil also became the first ever Norfolk Island athlete to compete at these Championships. Both athletes should be proud of these achievements.
Jay Antonio and Michael Gaitan competed in a run-off to see who was the fastest man from Guam. Both athletes were looking strong until the 13km mark when Jay started to lose the pace. In the end youth proved to have its advantages as Michael was the first to cross the line in a time of 1:20.59 .
In the Women’s Half Marathon Johanna Ottosson from New Zealand satisfying time of 1:19.37, which placed her 11 fastest in the women.
In the Women’s Marathon, Mamiko Oshima Berger from Northern Mariana Islands was the only athlete from the Pacific islands to compete in the marathon. Mamiko started off strong and was running a good time for the first ½ of the race. Though after that unexpected muscle pains started to occur which resulted in Mamiko to slow down. She finished the Marathon in 3:53.30 and come 183. Mamiko is determined to compete at next year’s Championships where she is hoping to break her personal best.
Anna Pius from Papua New Guinea ran a terrific time of 19.31 in the 5km Challenge which secured her an overall 3rd place in for women race. Expect to see bigger achievements from this young women in the near future.
Congratulations to all athletes for their results in this year’s championships. The full results of the Pacific Islander athletes that compete can be seen below. Pictures of these championships can be seen in the photo gallery or on the OAA Facebook Page.
Men’s Half Marathon
- Georges Richmond (French Polynesia) – 1:10.31 overall 14 place – 1st 45-49 age division
- Kupsy Bisamo (Papua New Guinea) – 1:11.35 overall 19 place – 6th 25-29 age division PB
- Frederic Burquier (French Polynesia) – 1:12.25 overall 26 place - 3rd 35-39 age division
- Sapolai Yao (Papua New Guinea) – 1:12.45 overall 31 place – 9th 25-29 age division
- Chris Votu (Solomon Islands) – 1:14.56 overall 37 place - - 13th 30-34 age division PB
- Masick Tena (Solomon Islands) – 1:18.32 overall 68 place – 9th 21-24 age division
- Michael Gaitan (Guam) – 1:20.59 overall 89 place – 7th 18-20 age division
- Allan McNeill (Norfolk Island) – 1:30.11 overall 301 place – 40th 40-44 age division PB
- Jay Antonio (Guam) – 1:42.07 overall 990 – 183 35-39 age division
Women’s Half Marathon
- Johanna Ottosson (New Zealand) – 1:19.37 11 place – 4th 30-34 age division
Womens Marathon
- Mamiko Oshima Berger (Northern Mariana Islands) -3:53.30 overall 333 place – 183 35-39 age division
Women’s 10km Race
- Poro Gahekave (Papua New Guinea) – 41.43 overall 42 place – 3rd 18-20 age division
Women’s 5km Race
- Anna Pius (Papua New Guinea) – 19.31 overall 3rd place – 2nd 15-17 age division
Last Modified on 03/04/2012 05:06