A NEW ERA of PRIMARY COMPETITION ?
In 2009, eight (of the then 12) Primary Schools on Tarawa came together for the Finals of an Athletics competition - see archived report. The Heats had been completed the day before. A four-hour programme was completed and prizes distributed before lunch !
On Saturday, Nov. 24 2017, all 13 of the current Primaries assembled for an early start at the RKU National Stadium in Bairiki. The KAA SDOs, Nei Kairao Tune and Rabangaki Nawai, shared the organisation of this competition which formed the climax of their work in those schools during 2017. Three of the KAA Executive - President Peter Birati, Secretary Tekabwara Raurenti and Assistant Secretary Samasoni Nakala - were assisted by 35 officials from the schools involved.
The Meeting was called the Kiribati Inter-Primary Schools' Athletics Competition (KIPSAC). It is hoped that this will become an annual event at the latter end of the school year.
The three age-groups offered were: Junior (Years 1 and 2), Intermediate (Years 3 and 4) and Senior (Years 5 and 6).
The Day was opened by Minister of Education, Mr. David Collins.
At the end of the day, prizes were distributed by Ms. Kaaro Neeti, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Education. (Image of David and Nei Kaaro.) With ten of the schools achieving prizes, most went home satisfied. Not totally surprisingly, the schools nearest the track, i.e. Rurubao (1) and TaakenBairiki (4) had the best records.
Results Please see attached table.
The idea was participation and thus many athletes took part in few events. Track events were short sprints. The Hurdles Relays were done on times, a group of six teams followed by a group of seven. Every other width of the field necessitated clearing three low hurdles. Each team had 10 boys on one side of the field and 10 girls on the other. Each leg was 20m. so the total distance was 400m. The Mixed Team Standing Long Jump required each athlete to start their jump from where the previous athlete landed. Each team consisted of 5 boys and 5 girls. Result = total.
Last Modified on 21/12/2017 04:24