Whelan, Curreen headline Cross Country

Cross Country will kick off the 2008 Oceania Championships set here on Saipan at the end of this month.

According to the Oceania Athletics Association’s website the Open Men’s 6-kilometer event has the most number of participants with 13 entries.

Leading the list is Brendan Whelan of Australia. The 35-year-old won the silver medal in the last Oceania Championship held in 2006 in Apia, Samoa.

Samoa’s Aunese Curreen is also one of the favorites especially since he is in the final stages of preparations for the 800m event at the Beijing Summer Olympics.

According to the federation’s website, Curreen is also the Pacific Islands’ record holder for the 800m. He is also no stranger to the longer distances, having won the gold in the 5,000m at the 2007 Pacific Games in Apia.

For the CNMI, veteran long distance runner Ketson “Jack” Kabiriel will banner the host islands’ best hope in the cross country despite having turned 34 years old.

Guam, meanwhile, has entered five athletes in the Open Women’s race led by 43-year-old Marie Benito. Marshall Islands and Samoa have one entry each.

The Under-18 3-kilometer men’s and women’s cross country are dominated by entries from Micronesia.

According to OAA, this reflects the strong Cross Country culture that is evident in the islands north of the equator.

While Guam has four of the six entries in the Under-18 men’s event, New Zealand’s Laura Nagel appears to be one of the early favorites in the U18 Women’s event.

Cross Country will be held on June 25, 6am at the sprawling Laolao Bay Golf Resort in Kagman.

Two days before the start of the 2008 Oceania Championships, the island will also play host to the 2008 Oceania Grand Prix.

According to the OAA website, the Oceania Grand Prix squad of 41 athletes representing 12 member federations of Oceania Athletes will come up against athletes from all of the 21 federations who will this year be competing at the Oceania Under 18 and Open Area Championships.

Athletes to look out for at the Grand Prix include Tonga’s Ana Po’uhila who has been in tremendous form in the shot put over the past months.

Po’uhila now has a number of “B” qualifying standards going into the Grand Prix Series and Oceania Championships.

And after a sensational 2006 Pacific Games, Curreen will be hoping keep Samoa on the winner’s podium in the middle distance events.

Papua New Guinea star sprinter Mae Koime will also hope to be back to her best on Saipan after an injury-related hiatus, but she’ll be pushed all of the way by her teammate Toea Wisil.

The rest of the 2008 Grand Prix Team are Cook Islands’ Harmon Harmon, Samantha Lockington, and Teriappi Tapok, Fiji’s Isoa Me, Mereula Saloti, Makelesi Tumalevu. Eugene Volmer, Iowane Dovumatua, Niko Verakauta, and Isireli Naikelkelivesi, Federated States of Micronesia’s Jack Howard, Guam’s Genie Gierardo, Kiribati’s Rabangaki Nawai and Buraieta Yeeting, New Caledonia’s Frederic Erin and Sigato David Kilama, Nauru’s J.J. Capelle, Rosa-Mystique Jone, and A-One Tannang, Papua New Guinea’s Betty Burua, Wala Gime, Sharon Henry, Sandy Katusele, Mong Tavol, Salome Dell, and Kevin Kaptamana, Tahiti’s Teiva Izal, Tupuhoe Tahi, Terootae Urarii, and Toriki Urarii, Solomon Islands’ Jack Iroga, Francis Maniouru, William Taloga, and Chris Walasi, and Vanuatu’s David Benjamin, Moses Kamut, and Arnold Sorina.