BY ROMULUS HUTA
NATIONAL distance female rep to the Commonwealth Games next month has a clocked season’s best time in last week’s Victoria Milers competition in Australia.
Running in the women’s 1500m open, Firisua clocked 5:01.06s to give her a season’s best achievement.
Firisua is currently training with Glenhuntly Athletics Club in Melbourne along with fellow male country long distance rep Patrick Kam.
The arrangement to have Firisua and Kam train in Australia comes under an International Olympic Committee (IOC) funded scholarship.
The scholarship is to enable the country’s top athletes train at performance-enhancing facilities overseas to prepare them for upcoming global sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games next month and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Kam also participated in the Victoria Milers in the 1500m event and completed the race with a time of 4:21.37s.
A week before the Milers’ competition, both Firisua and Kam participated in the Victorian Open and Para Championship.
Though they could not progress beyond the preliminary heats, Kam clocked 4:22.18s while Firisua finished the race with a time of 5:03.09s.
In another separate event that was held toward the end of February, the duo took part in the Warburton Fun Run and claimed the second spots in both the women’s and men’s categories.
Racing along a 5 kilometer course, Kam was placed second in the men’s and stopped the clock with a time of 8.09s behind Sam Toll (17.43s). Firisua finished the race clocking 20.42s behind Vanessa Wilson who crossed the finish line first with a time of 20.14s.
Firisua said the good results produced over the past two weeks during their training camp in Melbourne are expected to help boost them for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast next month.
“Though we don’t have much more left but I think so far so good,” Firisua said.
Firisua and Kam are two of the four athletes that will represent Solomon Islands in athletics next month in Gold Coast.
The other two are sprinters Kevin Pio and Samantha Rofo.
The Gold Coast Games will run from April 4 to 15.
