The Pacific Triathlon Championships have been pushed back to 3-4 September to make sure the PNG team can make it after recent political events in PNG triggered flight disruptions.
A strong squad of triathletes from across PNG have been planning to come to battle it out with Fiji’s top athletes and our spirited Solomon Islands squad, but have been disrupted by domestic and international flight cancellations.
Given the hard months of training the PNG team have committed to this race, and the anticipation among the Fiji and Solomon Islands athletes looking forward to the PNG competition, the event organising team decided that it was best to postpone the event to a time when all the athletes would be able to make it.
The Solomon Islands squad have been philosophical about the delay, commenting that the extra 5 weeks will give them more time to train and perfect their technique and transition skills.
Coach Nathan Thompson Siofa noted that a number of athletes had been distracted by competition in other sports such as running and swimming in the recent Solomon Games.
So the extra time to bring the focus back onto all three triathlon skills – swim, ride and run – will be welcome. It will also allow extra time to tune the squads bikes, making sure as many Solomon athletes can compete in the full triathlon as possible.
The challenge of maintaining the teams bikes is a constant battle given the harsh condition of Honiara and Kakabona’s roads.
So for all the other locals, pikininis and expats out there planning to test themselves against the Pacific’s best triathletes, you now have five more weeks to build your strength and perfect your swim, ride and run.
In the meantime, the Fiji, PNG and Solomon’s teams are now putting their heads down for some bonus training in preparation for September.
