A final inspection of venues will get under way this week as Laoag, Ilocos Norte gets ready to host the 65th Palarong Pambansa.
A technical meeting is set on Wednesday as technical officials make a last ocular viewing of the facilities, ahead of the opening on May 24.
“We will have the final technical consultation on April 30. We are still finalizing everything (on the venues) for the Palarong Pambansa,” said athletics’ technical official Jeanette Obiena.
The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) is making sure that the Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium in Laoag, Ilocos Norte will be ready for the athletics events, one of the premier events of the games.
Organizers are seeking to avoid mistakes which took place in last year’s edition of the Palaro in Cebu City.
It will be recalled that that Cebu City Sports Complex did not meet international standard when the track meet was held there.
Back then, several meet records established were not recognized after officials found that the measurements of the oval’s length did not meet requirements set by World Athletics for an event to be certified.
It was discovered that the 400-meter track oval was found to be short by 0.88 meters
Preparations are being led by Laoag City Mayor Michael Keon, a former track official and head of Gintong Alay project which produced legends like Isidro del Prado and the late Lydia de Vega.
Keon and the Laoag organizers last held an inspection of the venue in March during the Region 1 athletics’ meet.
