NMA to hold time trials for area championships

Zarinae Sapong, left, and Rachel Abrams, seen here getting ready to train, have suited up for the CNMI in various Oceania regional championships. The Northern Marianas Athletics will conduct time trials for the CNMI team that will compete in the Micronesian Area Championships this year. (Jon Perez)

The Northern Marianas Athletics will be holding time trials in March for the CNMI team that will compete in this year’s Micronesian Area Championships set from June 22 to 24 in Pohnpei.

NMA official and national team coach Elias Rangamar will be supervising the time trials.

Rangamar said he is hoping that resurfacing of the Oleai track facility would be done when NMA starts the series of tryouts. The Hopwood Junior High School field is a back up venue if repairs at the Oleai track oval are not yet done.

“Hopefully, resurfacing is done early this year so we could hold time trials at the Oleai track. If not, then Hopwood is our next option. We need to ask permission from Hopwood principal Jonas Barcinas if we could use their field,” said Rangamar in an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

“We still have time to conduct the time trials and tryout if we’re going to do it at Hopwood. There are still at least three months before the area championships. We will have weekly tryouts in March to April,” said Rangamar.

The Northern Marianas Sports Association is trying to get the track resurfaced with the funds coming from a Community Development Block Grant from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. NMHC will have a pre-bid conference today for the resurfacing project.

Resurfacing of the Oleai track facility is expected to start as soon as the project is awarded to the winning bidder. NMSA and NMHC are looking for a contractor that has the knowledge in making a track facility that would meet international standards to ensure the longevity of the rubber surface.

Meanwhile, this year’s MAC will be the fourth edition of the competition. The first one was held in Palau in 2003, while Saipan organized it in 2005, and Guam hosted the final sub regional tournament in 2007.

The Oceania Athletics Association dissolved the sub regional format and combined it with the Oceania Area Championships in 2009 with Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia as the venue. Samoa (2011), Cairns (2012), French Polynesia (2013) and the Cook Islands (2014) also hosted the OAC. Barlow Park in Cairns, Australia hosted the last OAC in May 2015 after the OAA decided to bring back the sub regional format.

Papeete in Tahiti will host the Polynesian Championships from April 8 to 9, while the Melanesian Championships will be held in Suva, Fiji from July 7 to 9.

NMA is also aiming to bring back the MAC to the CNMI in 2017 or nearly a decade after Saipan hosted the Oceania Athletics Championships in 2008.