MAC out, Oceania Regional Championships in

The Oceania Athletics Association has consolidated the regional athletics championships in Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia into one, giving birth to the Oceania Regional Championships 2009.

Elias Rangamar of Northern Marianas Athletics believes the move aims to cut cost for the staging of the three regional events.

NMA is among the seven OAA members competing in the Micronesian Athletics Championships.

MAC was originally set for December this year in Palau, the Polynesian meet was scheduled for July in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, and the Melanesian tournament was to take place in Gold Coast, Australia in August.

Island-nations participating in the Polynesian tournament are American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga. Listed in the Melanesian event are Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

Joining CNMI, which hosted the MAC in 2005, are the Federates States of Micronesia, Palau, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Guam. Guam hosted MAC in 2007.

“This year, it was Palau’s turn, but I think Palau is having difficulties in preparing for the hosting of the MAC because its administration is still on a transition period,” Rangamar said.

Micronesian Regional Representative to OAA Council Robin Sapong in an earlier interview said he had already submitted a proposed budget for the MAC. But he was aware that changes in the regional meets maybe be made after attending the council’s meeting in Fiji last month.

Sapong even disclosed that Nauru and Kiribati, which used to compete in the MAC, will be seeing action in the Melanesian Championships, but the records will still be listed in the Micronesia rankings.

Over a month after the council meeting, the association on March 16 sent OAA Competition Circular 05.09 to 21 member federations, informing them of the consolidation of the three regional events into one. The circular did not say if the three regional meets will be totally scrapped and will be replaced permanently by have the Oceania Regional Championships.

OAA calls the regional meet the “Mini Oceania Championships.” It will run from Aug. 4 to 6 in Gold Coast, Australia, which will also host the Oceania Grand Prix Series on Aug. 8.

Each federation is allowed to send seven athletes and one official. OAA is providing funding for the trip of representatives from the various federations. The format for the championships will be finalized at the OAA Congress in May.

Rangamar said despite the changes on the dates and venue of the biennial meet, NMA will still be conducting series of trials to determine the athletes who will represent CNMI in the August tournament.