Oil Search Pacific Games Relay in Maprik

Oil Search Pacific Games Relay in Maprik. Photo credit:madNESS Photography

The relay started with a relay around the township of Maprik and the start of the cultural and heritage leg of the East Sepik relay visit.

Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has long spoken of having East Sepik declared a cultural and heritage province and the provincial coordinators for the relay have arranged the journey to highlight these aspects.

Maprik is the proud home of many soccer players.  The Relay commenced with the Old Town Football Club players, they are the reigning premiers of East Sepik and represented the province at the recent Papua New Guinea Games, coming third.

They handed the baton over to soccer legend John KuiKui who played for Papua New Guinea at the first three Pacific Games in 1963,66 and 69. John spoke of how proud he was to run out on the field in 1969 in front of the PNG crowd. Today he led his junior football club on the relay.

The Baton was formally welcomed by MP John Simon and the Tandi clan at their ‘biliguin’ (haus tambaran).

From there the team drove to Pagwi and boarded three dugour canoes for the upriver journey to Ambunti.

The relay stopped at Malu Village on the Sepik for another singsing welcome and then the sports youth ran the baton along the edge of the Sepik River up to Ambunti, chanting as they ran “one nation, one people, one country, one baton” truly capturing the spirit of the Oil Search Pacific games relay.