Preparations for the 2023 Trukai Fun Run (TFR) on Lihir Island are progressing well with local business houses and community groups supporting the event through the purchase of t-shirts. This includes Petro Oil, Lihir Athletics, Nationwide Scaffolding Services (NSS) Lihir Civil Construction (LCC), Anitua Retail, Lihir Auto Services, Monadelphous, Lihir Police and Anitua Protective Services (APS). Event Lead, Nancy Gah expressed that Anitua Limited is grateful for the support shown by these local businesses as well as the sports association, as the funds will go towards supporting two worthy causes. “We are fundraising to support the Kavieng General Hospital’s cancer screening clinic, as well as Team PNG to attend this year’s Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.” “The positive response from these companies is a testament of their values to help local people in the area in which they conduct business.” From the purchase, LCC donated a total of 330 t-shirts to Sekunkun primary school while NSS donated 139 t-shirts to Lakuplien primary school and Anitua Retail will be sponsoring ten students from Lihir Secondary with a t-shirt each. In addition to this, Gah also stated that Monadelphous is another company that is known for giving back to communities through donations to local schools and clean-a-thon campaigns, so their support is appreciated. Other companies have also supported the Lihir event including Kina Bank, Nasfund and PNG Air. “There is a lot of enthusiasm to participate in the Trukai Fun, hence the mad rush from the public to purchase t-shirts. It’s exciting to see people already wearing the TFR shirts in town and even in the villages we’ve visited in the past week.” “We are anticipating at least a thousand participants at the event on the 20th of August and with two weeks to go, we encourage the wider public to purchase a shirt before the limited stock we have runs out.” Meanwhile, General Manager of NSS and Balasie, Steve Parsons, stated that their business has always been active in the community, supporting health and education and this event ticks both boxes. “Not only did we want to support Kavieng Hospital’s cancer screening clinic, but it also gives us the opportunity to involve the local children to be part of this worthy cause. So, with this, we decided to buy shirts for the entire grade seven and eight students of Lakuplien primary school, so they can participate in the Trukai Fun Run.” “We hope the rest of the community turn out in numbers along with the students and everybody has a great day.” This is the first time the landowner company is hosting the Trukai Fun Run on Lihir Island.