Aquila Turalom has broken the oldest record in books of athletics PNG by just a couple of seconds during the Queensland Championships in Australia on Thursday 14th March. Turalom ran the 3000m steeplechase in 9minutes 22.06 seconds, shaving 3 seconds off the time of 9min 25.8 secs set by the late, great John Kokinai in Port Moresby on 25 August 1971: 53 years ago. Athletics PNG President, Mr. Tony Green witnessed this milestone achievement by young Turalom in Brisbane and mentioned that it was not a total surprise because he had shown signs that he was going to eventually break that record. Looking back to the lead up to the night where he broke the record, President Green said Turalom had been working very hard to achieve such a significant success in his athletics career. His big breakthrough came at the Pacific Games in Honiara when he ran 9min 26 seconds in the steeplechase and broke the 30 year old national record in the 1500m, becoming the first Papua New Guinean to run the metric mile in under 4minutes. Turalom never came home from Honiara, instead heading to the Gold Coast in order to build on his achievements at the Games, staying at the Oceania Athletics House at Varsity Lakes in a continuation of his programme leading up to the World Cross Country Championships last year. In competitions leading up to these state championships, Turalom has clocked times of 9m 34 and 9min 40 secs. Coach Brett Green, who has been training Turalom at the Gold Coast, said increasing his weekly mileage has made the difference as Turalom now has the strength to maintain the pace to the end of the race. Turalom dedicated the record to his first coach the late Wilson Malana, who brought him into the sport and was a huge influence. Meanwhile, President Green thanked West New Britain Governor, Sasi Muthavel for his support in funding Turalom’s travel to Australia to participate in the Championships.