PNGOC president urges support from corporate sector

Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) President, Sir John Dawanincura has made a rallying cry to the PNG corporate sector to get heavily involved in tomorrow’s (Wednesday) Trukai Fun Run auction and support Team PNG’s Olympic campaign. Held at the Lae Yacht Club, the nation’s business community will have the chance to bid for this year’s official 2016 Trukai Fun Run T-shirts, with the chance to then donate the limited edition shirts to local residents and schools. It will be the first of two auctions for the event, with the second to be held at the Royal Papua Yacht Club in Port Moresby on Thursday, also this week. 

The Trukai Fun Run is the PNGOC’s major fundraising event, which assists in sending Team PNG to major international competitions such as the Pacific, Commonwealth and Olympic Games. Funds raised from this year’s Fun Run will go towards sending PNG athletes to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August. Given the extremely supportive response from businesses to last year’s auction, Sir Dawanincura said he expects a mix of previous and first time bidders this year. “We welcome last year’s top five bidders from the two centres to join us again this year and also encourage other organisations to purchase shirts this year for their respective communities,” he said. “The auction is a very valuable financial support to Team PNG and our Olympic campaign.

 It is our main fundraising vehicle and this is why we call on corporate PNG to again show their national colours and support us through attending these events.” Trukai is providing 100,000 shirts for the Fun Run this year, which will feature the Cancer Council’s message of ‘Protect Your Family from Cancer. Eat Healthy and Exercise Regularly’ There are plenty of incentives for companies to get behind this year’s auction, with the top five bidders to be rewarded with return airline tickets to Sydney, Brisbane, Singapore, Hong Kong and Cairns courtesy of Air Niugini. Successful bidders can also put their logo on the shirts before distributing them to their selected schools or institutions. Schools are then encouraged to sell the shirts at no more than K10, with funds going towards school projects.

 Trukai’s General Manager, Sales and Marketing, said: “Both Trukai and the PNGOC are grateful to business houses, that continue to support this event for many years. Without your support, we would not be able to send Team PNG to these various competitions.” “We are proud to be associated with elite Papua New Guinean sports men and women who are putting PNG on the map and to be partners with stakeholders that are backing Team PNG.”