Kids run like the wind in Oleai

On a sunny day in Oleai, several youngsters, ranging in age from three to 16, made their way onto the state of the art reddish oval to the north of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium to run like the wind.

With smiles on their faces, the children lined up to sprint down their lanes at maximum speed as their parents, friends, and fellow “roommates” looked on.

The first race was a 60m dash that was run solely by a trio of three year-olds. Junior Romolor was focused all the way down his lane, taking first. He wasn’t only the fastest runner in the race; he was also the most alert. Romolor was the only one of the three that took off running after the official finished “On your marks, get set, go.”

The dash was followed by a 100m sprint by the 6-8 year-olds, and then it was time for the 8-12 year-olds. The next race was a 150m sprint to the finish line. Boys and girls were racing over and over again, and it didn’t matter who was crossing the line first.

Shermy Angey, Julie May San Nicolas, Samantha John, Faith Oiph, Ketruth Sebangiol, Tinon Somol, Kateleen Setrick, Faye Oiph, Patrick Pelisamen, Jesse San Nicolas, Isidro Romolor, Christopher San Nicolas, Matrick Assito, Donovan Isaiah Pelisamen, Margie San Nicolas, and Tammy San Nicolas walked away from the activities with smiles on their faces, and that was enough.

The races were more symbolic of the children running away from their thoughts of their homes and their belongings left ravaged by supertyphoon Chaba. While today will be the final day that the evacuees will be housed at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, they will now have to deal with the reality of rebuilding.

The organizers of the event would like to express a heartfelt thank you to the businesses that supported their efforts in setting up the meet. Famous Shoes stepped up to the plate when they donated 25 pairs of sneakers, the Pacific Trading Company provided 10 cases of Aquafina bottled water for the children, and the Pacific Islands Club donated an assortment of T-shirts, hats, water bottles, Frisbees, and visors for the event as well.

A thank you also goes out to the DCCA employees who were able to take on the challenge of taming the feisty youngsters, and hosting a well-organized meet facilitated the event. The DCCA employees, who normally tend to the needs of the Oleai facility and the athletic fields, had been working around the clock to provide whatever type of service that was needed to help the temporary residents. They will be getting back to their regular routine, which means that their job won’t be getting any easier.

There’s still plenty of cleaning up to do around the complex, and several repairs that will have to be done, but at least for the time being, they can take comfort in the fact that they patched up a few smiles with their efforts yesterday afternoon.