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CNMI to compete in 3 major athletics events
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Posted on Dec 29 2011
By Roselyn Monroyo
Reporter
Reporter
Three world competitions await CNMI track and field athletes next year.
First up for the Commonwealth is the 2011 IAAF World Indoor Championships, which will be held in Istanbul Turkey in March.
“We will be announcing dates for tryouts for the indoor tournament,” Northern Marianas Athletics head coach Elias Rangamar said in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.
“2012 will be a busy year for us as we will be competing in both world and regional tournaments. All off-island events will have qualifiers,” Rangamar added.
The world indoor will take place at the Ataköy Athletics Arena from March 9 to 12. The event is one of the four IAAF World Athletics Series competitions in 2012. The three others are the World Race Walking Cup, the IAAF World Junior Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships.
The Walking Cup will be held in Saransk, Russia, on May 12 and 13, while Kavarna, Bulgaria will host the World Half Marathon Championships on Oct. 6. The 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships, which will be the CNMI’s third major event for next year, will run from July 10 to 15 in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament in Barcelona is for athletes in the U19 age group.
Before the competition in Spain, the CNMI will first participate in the 2012 Oceania Regional Championships, which will take place in Cairns, Australia, from June 27 to 29.
The Commonwealth won medals in 2011 regional event in Apia, Samoa with sprinter Yvonne Bennett leading the squad.
The Boise, Idaho-based Bennett claimed the gold medal in the women’s 400m race and bronze in the 100m and 200m runs. Also notching bronze medals in Samoa were Clayton Kenty (110m hurdles) and Ryan Ichihara (long jump).
From Samoa, Bennett went straight to Daegu, Korea for the 2011 IAAF World Championships where she raced in the 100m sprint.
