Mayor Val Schier welcomed hundreds of athletes to the Oceanic Athletic Championships at an Opening Ceremony on the Cairns Esplanade on wednesday this week.

Cairns Regional Council is the major sponsor of the championship that will see athletes from 23 countries of the Pacific region compete in track and field events at Barlow Park Thursday to Saturday (Sept 24 to 26th) this week.

Mayor Val Schier said Cairns was perfectly positioned to play host to the 400 team members, including for the first time this year, a team from Indonesia.
“Barlow Park offers world class facilities for track and field athletics and will serve the competition very well. The championships will attract spectators from across this region and beyond,” Cr Schier said

“Cairns is proud to partner with Cairns Athletics to support these games that showcase accomplished athletes from across the Pacific region,” Cr Schier said.
“We recognise that of the six athletic regions around the globe, Oceania is the largest.  It does, however, face the unique challenge in having the majority its area covered by ocean waters.  Many competitors have made epic journeys to reach Cairns.”

The Oceanic Athletic Championships have been held every second year since 1990, with North Queensland last hosting the games in Townsville in 2004.

There are more than 110 separate events in the games with some competitors going on to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Editors Comments: I bet it's safer here than where these athletes are going in India!  Good luck to them all.