Four of Fiji’s national athletes joined 50 children and adults in Suva to for the Fiji Run 24-1 to kick start the IAAF Run 24-1 We had about 50 plus participants and 3 Athletics Fiji officials. The 2 runners that finished ahead of the pack are Athletics Fiji National reps who are currently preparing for our Pacific Games in July. We had 4 national athletes attend the run as well.
The 4 national athletes, Albert Miller Jr. (sprints), Rajeshwar Prasad (distances), Stephen Sanday (middle distance, the fastest runner in 1500m at the South pacific) and Eugene Vollmer (triple jump and long jump) are all currently preparing for the Pacific Games in July.
Triple and long jumper, Eugene Vollmer said: “This is the first time Fiji has celebrated Global Running Day and hopefully in the years to come, the awareness will grow throughout our tiny Rugby loving island nation. The run was good, I enjoyed it. Just to come out and do something different. No need to be competitive, just take part and it will hopefully inspire other people to take up running as a way of life.”
Athletics in Fiji was set up in 1947. With only 2 synthetic tracks on the island most athletics’ events are held on a grass track. Marathon running is gaining in popularity with around 2000 participants in the annual Suva Marathon, organised by the Suva Marathon Club. This event is now the biggest marathon competition in the south pacific.
Story by: IAAF (03/06/2019)