Urarii is man to beat in hurdles

Tahiti’s Toriki Urarii is favored to win the 110m hurdles of the 2008 Oceania Championships, which unfurls next week at the Oleai Track and Field.

With 10 men entered in the open men’s division of the event, Urarii, who won the 100m hurdles in the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa, appears to be the best bet to take home the gold, according to the Oceania Athletics website.

Fiji’s Jone Wainiqolo finished fourth in the same Games and is expected to challenge Urarii’s supremacy in the event with a seed time of 15.60 seconds.

Not that far behind are Cyprien Tehui of Tahiti, Kenneth Karosich of Guam, and Beteru Ateri of Kiribati who all have seed times in the 16-second range.

Monique Lafaialii of Samoa and Shannon McCann of Australia, meanwhile, are the women to watch in the 100m hurdles as both have times in the low-15s.

Milika Tuivanuavou of Fiji and Sharon Henry of Papua New Guinea can also pull out upsets. The former has a seed time of 16.80, while the latter is a 400m hurdles specialist who has been having her first ever serious attempt at the race.

Nine men are entered in the 400m hurdles and on paper it looks as though it will be a good race between PNG hurdlers Mowen Boino (multiple gold medal winner in the Pacific Games and Oceania competition) and Wala Gime.

The women’s 400m hurdles appears to be Henry’s for the taking. She won the Pacific Games 400m hurdles while she was battling a severe bout of malaria. Since then, she has improved greatly and now has a seed time of 61.47.

Just over two seconds slower is McCann with a time of 63.51. The other competitor is Kaitinano Mwemweata of Kiribati, who will be aiming to break her national record in the meet.

In the women’s Under-18 100m hurdles, two New Zealand athletes should have a battle royale for local bragging rights.

However, Olivia Blundell (14.98) holds a narrow edge over Kelsey Berryman (15.18). The field is rounded out by Vasi Feke of Tonga who performed so well in the recent Tongan National Championships with a time of 15.29 seconds.

The women’s 400m hurdles only has three entries. The Australian competitor has a seed time of 72.56 seconds. New Zealand’s Kelsey Barryman has no seed time but is an experienced 100m hurdler. Feke can hurdle but did not run it in their nationals.

In the Under-18 men’s 110m hurdles, Aussie Daniel Mclean (14.97) will go up against against New Zealand’s Michael Cochrane (15.03). Tonga’s Lars Fa’apoi (16.06) looks good for third, but his compatriot Andy Lui could be a surprise.

Cochrane looks to be a lock in the Under-18 men’s 400m hurdles based on his 110m hurdles form with Fa’apoi his biggest challenger.