In this land of unpredictable weather, Day Three started with overcast and windy weather, but the rain stayed mercifully away – for most of the time.

First athletes in action were the Decathletes with the 110m Hurdles. The overnight leader, Reginald Monagi (PNG) clung to his lead after the first event, but the Discus saw the favourite, Eric Reuillard (NCL) take the lead, which he would build-on in the Pole Vault (4.60m). The real interest would be in the scramble for the silver and bronze medals. Reginald Monagi (PNG) consolidated his position after the PV (doing a pb of 3.30m), but how would the whole group of seven handle the 1500m  - a killer event at the end of two days of competition.

After a sunny Sunday, the rainy conditions returned for the first full day of competition. We started with the Decathlon 100m.  First across the line was Kolinio Qarau (FIJ) narrowly edging-out Reginald Monagi (PNG) who had recovered from his Pole Vault mishap on Saturday night.

After impatiently waiting for the Athletics competition to start, it finally got underway at two different stadia, and we were greeted with the heavens opening and creating wet and windy conditions. These unfavourable conditions influenced the four events on offer, as the athletes coped with less-than-ideal conditions.

Former Pacific Games decathlon champion Albert Miller says there seems to be a lot of secrecy in the build-up to the athletics competition at the 14th Pacific Games in Noumea, New Caledonia.

“From what I see there’s a lot of secrecy going on in a lot of teams especially from PNG and New Caledonia and I think New Caledonia will be the sleeping giant”, said Miller whose coach for the Fiji athletics team.