Mullins arrives for Oceania Championships

Oceania Athletics Association executive secretary Yvonne Mullins and Tahiti representative Titaua Juventin planed in yesterday and will spend the next 17 days on Saipan to help with the island’s hosting of the 2008 Oceania Championships.

Welcoming the two OAA officials at the Francisco M. Ada-Saipan International Airport were Northern Marianas Athletics president Kurt Barnes, general secretary Robin Sapong, and Penny Jones.

Mullins said she is happy to be back on Saipan and congratulated the CNMI for hosting this year’s Oceania Championships.

“It’s a fabulous event for the Northern Marianas and they did a really great job in the Micronesian Regional Championships in 2005 and also in the 2006 Micro Games. Both of those events led me to believe that they will run a very good [Oceania] Championships,” she said.

The OAA executive secretary also said that she’s glad that the Oleai Track and Field has finally been certified and that she’s looking forward to inspecting it today.

“We’ve done certification on the track so I’m going to take a look at it. We will do some training with the officials as well and just really make sure that everything is up and ready. We’re here a week before which gives us a lot of opportunities to meet with the local organizing committee and just to tie up any loose ends.”

She said the problem with the track was nothing unusual as every track that has been constructed in the world usually has a couple of little kinks here and there.

In the Oleai Track and Field’s case, an old rule was used on it that was no longer accepted by the federation.

“It turned out that it was not a major deal and we’re very delighted that the track is up to certification. It’s exactly what it needs to be for the Oceania Championships. It’s the same as many of the tracks in Australia and New Zealand. It’s not certified to run the World Championships but it’s certified to run an area championships and that’s what we need,” she added.

Mullins said so far so good in preparations for the 2008 Oceania Championships set for June 25 and 28.

“I think the local organizing committee is doing a great job and all I’m here to do is to run around and help them if they need any help. But I think they’ve done a great job. I think we’re in a far better position for this Championships than two years ago when we went to Fiji and then to Samoa. I think we’re going to have a good championship here,” she said.

With Mullins and Juventin finally arriving on Saipan, Barnes jokingly said: “Well, we can’t back down now!”

Seriously, the longtime CNMI resident and Northern Marianas College official welcomed the two OAA officials and then invited the community to come down to Oleai and watch the events.

“I just want everybody to know that this is going to be the biggest track meet in the history of Micronesia and we’ll never have this track meet again in the next 20 years. Everyone is invited to come and there’ll be a lot of fantastic events. Every event is going to set a track record.”

Oceania Athletics Association executive secretary Yvonne Mullins, second from left, and Tahiti representative Titaua Juventin, fourth from left, pose with Northern Marianas Athletics officials Kurt Barnes and Robin Sapong. Also in the photo is Penny Jones, right.