Mangaia prepares for Manea Games

The island of Mangaia is gearing up to host the 2011 Manea Games.

The island was the first host of the zone games in 1997 and last week the islands Aronga Mana, Island Council and sports association formally accepted the challenge to host the sports event.

At the end of the 2009 Manea Games in Aitutaki there were issues surrounding the future of the games however Mangaia has confidently put their hands up to continue the sports gathering.

Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee president Sir Geoffrey Henry and general secretary Rosie Blake, accompanied by sports manager Robert Graham, visited Mangaia last week to formally present them with the Manea Games flag.

While on the island, Graham met with the games organising committee to run training programmes to get them familiar with the various aspects of running such sports events from preparing facilities, catering, accommodation and sports administration.

Graham says that the games on average attract between 500 and 600 athletes and officials to the host island and it’s this number that the island of Mangaia is working with to prepare for the games.

He adds that the island has some minor upgrades to do to their main hall – the Fellowship Hall, which will be used for catering during the games.

Athletes and officials will be accommodated at Mangaia School and some work needs to be done on the islands hard courts and sports fields.

The island is yet to confirm the remaining sports codes that will be run during the games along with the six compulsory codes that have to be staged namely athletics, rugby sevens, netball, soccer, touch rugby and volleyball.

At the moment the games are scheduled for October 2011 and Graham expects that the sports codes, games dates and budget for the games will be confirmed by the end of August.

The games are contested by southern group island sports teams from host island Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro, Atiu and Aitutaki.