Close to 800 students from 11 primary schools are competing in the annual CITC Prince of Wales Primary School Athletic Championship.

On day one of the Championship yesterday at National Stadium in Nikao, students turned up in numbers showing their sporting spirit and enthusiasm.

Simone Fe’ao, president of the Athletics Cook Islands, explained that the two-day event is an opportunity for the students to showcase their talents and improve their skills, ultimately aiming to compete in the biennial Cook Islands Games.

“We introduced some things to try and make it efficient but it’s always highly contested between the schools and we’re hoping to see some of the smaller schools be able to be more competitive this year, I know they’ve been training out there in advance,” Fe’ao said.

“And all those people that’s been waiting to hear who is the school champion and the different champions that often tells us who is going to go on to be the champions of the Cook Islands Games as well so watch out for these athletes in a few years.”

 Day one competition yesterday began with the intermediate long jump event, discus for boys and 800 metres track event, including the seniors division, high jumps and shotput, discus for boys and 200m sprint in all divisions. The official opening ceremony will be held today at 8.30am with the prize giving for all events at 2.30pm.