Edward Dela Cruz Jr. flashes the peace sign as he competes in the Munro Leys Suva Marathon’s 10.55K road race during the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji early this month.
EDWARD Dela Cruz Jr. not only watched the best of the best compete during the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships held in Suva, Fiji on June 4-8, but also placed 16th out of 106 runners in the Munro Leys Suva Marathon’s 10.55K road race.
Dela Cruz wanted to compete in the half marathon, but he missed the registration deadline. “A deadline is a deadline and the best I could do was to get in the 10K. Oceania Athletics President Robin Sapong sent me the registration form and said I might as well get an international road race in the South Pacific checked off since I checked off Guam, the U.S and Russia already,” Dela Cruz said.
He also attended the Fiji event as a representative of the NMI on behalf of Sapong. “When the Oceania Athletics president calls, man you answer,” Dela Cruz added.
Besides taking care of the other participating NMI athletes, Dela Cruz said he did his best to network with the other track and field federation officials or athletes, and get to learn things from the road race community that he can bring back and share with NMI sports officials and athletes.
“Primarily I went there for the youth leadership workshop/seminar that they held before the championships started, and it was a great experience,” Dela Cruz said. “It was a great experience to see the other side of the lens. It was my first [Oceania Athletics Association] event.”
As for the level of competition that Dela Cruz witnessed, he said, “It was good. There was the same high level of competition as the world championship in Oregon. It was very competitive especially because the majority were aiming for points to get into the Olympics. This event made history for the Pacific Islands because it was the first ever that an island country hosted a continental tour meet which is a very high-level professional meet. They always hold it in Europe or America and some parts of Asia but never on a Pacific Island. I was very happy we got to witness history in the making.”
