By Fidelis Sukina – EMTV Sports, Port Moresby
Pacific Sprint Queen, Toea Wisil and Hurdler, Ephraim Lerkin, competed at the Queensland Track Classic in Brisbane on Saturday evening. The Classic is one of the Premier events of the Australian domestic calendar and the last major event before the season closes with the National Championships in Sydney.
It was not a good outing for Wisil who was in lane nine and finished seventh overall in her race. Toea started off well but could not maintain a solid finish, clocking 11.76 secs in the 100 meter race. She also took part in the 200m’s clocking a time of 24.38 seconds and finishing third. Toea ran a time of 11.57 seconds and 11.59 seconds in two separate races during the Pacific Games trials in Kimbe West New Britain before leaving for Brisbane. Both those times were better than what she ran at the track classic.
Toea has a personal best of 11.26 seconds, and during the Pacific Games in 2015 ran 11.86 to win Gold for PNG. So Toea is still running good times despite being sidelined by the PNG Olympic Committee last year.
Fellow athlete, Ephraim Lerkin, was also competing in his first race of the year in his favourite event – 400m hurdles. Lerkin in a orange singlet, struggled with timing his jumps and landing, slowing him down. He finished fifth with a time of 51.98 seconds which is just outside his personal best of 51.56 secs. The 21-year-old from Simberi Island was disappointed not to post a faster time.
Wisil will remain in Brisbane for the next ten days and prepare for the Australian National Championship in Sydney, where she will run the 100m only.
The duo will travel to Sydney on April 3rd and return to Goroka on April 8th.
https://youtu.be/Y9CBLmp4ep8
