2009 Melanesian Championships in Athletics

V Melanesian Championships in Athletics
Host city	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Date(s)	August 4–8
Main stadium	Griffith University
Level	Senior
Participation	85 athletes from 7 nations
Events	34 (18 men, 16 women)
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The 2009 Melanesian Championships in Athletics took place between August 4–8, 2009. The event was held at the Griffith University in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, jointly with the OAA Grand Prix Series, and the OAA sub-regional Micronesian and Polynesian Championships. Many athletes utilised the competitions preparing for the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany.^[1] Detailed reports were given for the OAA.^[2][3]

A total of 34 events were contested, 18 by men and 16 by women.

Medal summary

Complete results can be found on the Oceania Athletics Association webpage,^[4][5][6] and at sportfieber.pytalhost.com.^[7][8][9]

In 100 metres, 400 metres hurdles, long jump and triple jump, as well as in shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw, there were separate open competitions for the Melanesian championships and the OAA Grand Prix Series held on different days.

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +0.1 m/s)	Niko Verekauta  Fiji	10.60	Nelson Stone  Papua New Guinea	10.76	Iowane Dovumatua  Fiji	10.82
100 metres Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Adison Alfred  Solomon Islands	11.21 (wind: +0.0 m/s)	Mathew Goha  Solomon Islands	11.30 (wind: +1.2 m/s)	Jack Iroga  Solomon Islands	11.37 (wind: +1.2 m/s)
200 metres (wind: +2.5 m/s)	Niko Verekauta  Fiji	21.47 w	Nelson Stone  Papua New Guinea	21.59 w	Tevita Nalovo Tuvuloka  Fiji	22.17 w
400 metres^1.)	Nelson Stone  Papua New Guinea	47.61	Wala Gime  Papua New Guinea	48.38	Joshua Ahwong  Australia	48.77
800 metres	Varasiko Toge Tomeru  Fiji	1:55.21	Adrien Kela  New Caledonia	1:55.58	Dean Searles  Australia	1:55.62
1500 metres	Adrien Kela  New Caledonia	4:08.57	Rorey Hunter  Australia	4:09.19	Douglas Bale  Solomon Islands	4:17.28
5000 metres	Philip Nausien  Vanuatu	16:08.60	Nathan Sutherland  Australia	16:34.26	Theo Houdret  New Caledonia	17:30.16
10000 metres	Chris Votu  Solomon Islands	34:08.25	Philip Nausien  Vanuatu	35:43.02	Nicholas Hanna  Australia	42:11.04
3000 metres steeplechase	Chris Votu  Solomon Islands	10:17.84	Douglas Bale  Solomon Islands	10:24.15
110 metres hurdles (wind: -0.1 m/s)	Xavier Fenuafanote  New Caledonia	15.79	Jone Wainiqolo  Fiji	15.82	Nathan McConchie  Australia	18.04
400 metres hurdles	Wala Gime  Papua New Guinea	53.12
400 metres hurdles Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Wala Gime  Papua New Guinea	52.45	Jone Wainiqolo  Fiji	56.06
High Jump	Norman Tse  Papua New Guinea	1.96m	Xavier Fenuafanote  New Caledonia	1.87m	Khaele Bowen  Australia	1.81m
Long Jump	Julius Nyambane  Australia	7.01m (wind: +1.1 m/s)	Rodney Blaire  Australia	6.71m (wind: -1.5 m/s)	Norman Tse  Papua New Guinea	6.69m (wind: +1.9 m/s)
Long Jump Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Julius Nyambane  Australia	6.90m (wind: -0.4 m/s)	Norman Tse  Papua New Guinea	6.69m (wind: +0.7 m/s)	Rodney Blaire  Australia	6.39m (wind: +0.9 m/s)
Triple Jump	Mong Tavol  Papua New Guinea	13.91m (wind: -1.0 m/s)	Reginald Monagi  Papua New Guinea	13.24m (wind: +0.0 m/s)	Etuwate Dreli  Fiji	12.98m (wind: -2.1 m/s)
Triple Jump Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Mong Tavol  Papua New Guinea	13.98m (wind: -1.1 m/s)	Reginald Monagi  Papua New Guinea	13.64m (wind: -0.2 m/s)
Shot Put	David Rakoci  Australia	11.11m
Discus Throw Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	David Rakoci  Australia	34.61m
Hammer Throw	Thomas McGuire  Australia	43.25m	David Rakoci  Australia	32.59m
Javelin Throw	Leslie Copeland  Fiji	67.99m CR	Ashley Hollins  Australia	61.12m	Semi Waqavatu  Fiji	55.13m
Javelin Throw Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Leslie Copeland  Fiji	66.36m	Ashley Hollins  Australia	64.23m
4 x 100 metres relay^2.)	Fiji	41.40 =CR	Papua New Guinea	41.90	Australia	44.33
4 x 400 metres relay	Papua New Guinea	3:23.07	Vanuatu	3:30.73	Australia	3:34.31

^1.): In the 400 metres event, Kevin Kapmatana from  Papua New Guinea was 2nd in 48.05 competing as a guest.
^2.): In the 4 x 100 metres relay event, the B team from  Fiji was 3rd in 42.30 competing as guests.

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: -1.0 m/s)	Toea Wisil  Papua New Guinea	11.80 =CR	Makelesi Bulikiobo  Fiji	11.98	Helen Philemon  Papua New Guinea	13.07
100 metres (wind: +1.0 m/s)] Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Michele John  Papua New Guinea	13.52	Pauline Kwalea  Solomon Islands	13.63
200 metres (wind: 1.6 m/s)	Makelesi Bulikiobo  Fiji	24.25	Toea Wisil  Papua New Guinea	24.64	Paulini Korowaqa  Fiji	25.65
400 metres^1.)	Makelesi Bulikiobo  Fiji	54.90	Salome Dell  Papua New Guinea	55.79	Paulini Korowaqa  Fiji	58.36
800 metres	Salome Dell  Papua New Guinea	2:09.25 CR	Kavita Maharaj  Fiji	2:21.23	Poro Gahekave  Papua New Guinea	2:26.37
1500 metres	Kavita Maharaj  Fiji	4:57.81	Poro Gahekave  Papua New Guinea	5:08.60	Salote Nauila  Fiji	5:20.75
5000 metres	Sereima Liku  Fiji	20:24.28
100 metres hurdles (wind: -0.3 m/s)	Soko Salaniqiqi  Fiji	15.66 CR
400 metres hurdles	Sharon Kwarula  Papua New Guinea	64.38
Long Jump	Soko Salaniqiqi  Fiji	5.71m w (wind: +4.9 m/s)	Merrisa Colledge  Australia	5.50m w (wind: +2.8 m/s)
Long Jump Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Merrisa Colledge  Australia	5.17m (wind: +0.8 m/s)	Soko Salaniqiqi  Fiji	5.17m (wind: +1.3 m/s)
Triple Jump	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	10.20m (wind: +0.5 m/s)
Shot Put	Kelly Humphries  Australia	11.19m CR	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	9.63m	Britt Quintal Christian  Norfolk Island	8.91m
Shot Put Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Kelly Humphries  Australia	11.09m	Che Kenneally  Australia	10.47m	Britt Quintal Christian  Norfolk Island	8.81m
Discus Throw^2.)	Kelly Humphries  Australia	38.23m CR	Wasie Toolis  Australia	32.34m	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	32.01m
Discus Throw Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Kelly Humphries  Australia	36.17m	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	35.40m	Wasie Toolis  Australia	31.18m
Hammer Throw	Kelly Humphries  Australia	44.22m CR	Cindy Toluafe  New Caledonia	41.28m
Javelin Throw	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	40.99m	Wasie Toolis  Australia	39.02m
Javelin Throw Non-Championship Event (Grand Prix Series)	Nickeisha Hodder  Australia	41.45m	Wasie Toolis  Australia	37.09m	Kelly Humphries  Australia	29.26m
4 x 100 metres relay	Papua New Guinea	49.08	Australia	51.92
4 x 400 metres relay	Papua New Guinea	4:00.20	Fiji	4:02.28

^1.): In the 400 metres event, Angeline Blackburn from  Australia was 3rd in 55.85 competing as a guest.
^2.): In the discus throw event, Che Kenneally from  Australia was 2nd in 35.71m competing as a guest.

Medal table (unofficial)

  The host country is highlighted in lavender blue

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Fiji	11	4	7	22
2	Papua New Guinea	10	8	3	21
3	Australia	8	10	8	26
4	New Caledonia	2	3	1	6
5	Solomon Islands	2	1	1	4
6	Vanuatu	1	2	0	3
7	Norfolk Island	0	0	1	1

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 85 athletes from 7 countries participated.

Australia (24)  Fiji (19)  New Caledonia (5)

Norfolk Island (1)  Papua New Guinea (21)

Solomon Islands (6)  Vanuatu (9)

References

1. [http://www.athletics-oceania.com/index.php?id=18&tx_ttnews[pS]=1249048800&tx_ttnews[pL]=2678399&tx_ttnews[arc]=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1270&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=39a7a68259 Oceania Regional Championships - Ready to Begin], OAA, 3 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
2. [http://www.athletics-oceania.com/index.php?id=18&tx_ttnews[pS]=1249048800&tx_ttnews[pL]=2678399&tx_ttnews[arc]=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1274&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=31ca80a1ea Regional Championships - Day 1 Wrap Up], OAA, 5 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
3. [http://www.athletics-oceania.com/index.php?id=18&tx_ttnews[pS]=1249048800&tx_ttnews[pL]=2678399&tx_ttnews[arc]=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1276&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=7bc0ff0e02 Oceania Regional Championships - Final Wrap-up], OAA, 12 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
4. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia - Results - Tuesday - 4 August - Melanesian, OAA, 4 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
5. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia - Results - Thursday 6 August - Melanesian, OAA, 6 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
6. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia - Results - Saturday 8 August - Melanesian, OAA, 8 August 2009, retrieved February 18, 2014
7. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia, sportfieber.pytalhost.com, retrieved February 18, 2014
8. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia, sportfieber.pytalhost.com, retrieved February 18, 2014
9. Oceania Regional Championships 2009 - 4/08/2009 to 8/08/2009 - Oceania Grand Prix Series 2009 - Griffith University, Gold Coast - Australia, sportfieber.pytalhost.com, retrieved February 18, 2014