The talented Dunedin runner is heading to the Solomon Islands to represent New Zealand in the Pacific Games, where she will compete in the 200m and 800m as well as two relays.
Exciting enough, obviously, but add in the fact the 19-year-old University of Otago student will get to have a reunion with her father in Honiara for the first time in nine years.
Evans-Tobata, who was born in New Zealand and has never been to the Solomon Islands, has been eagerly counting the days till she sees her father, Walebarasialia (Wale), again.
"I’m pretty excited,’’ she said.
"As soon as I found out the event was in the Solomon Islands, I expressed an interest in competing and I was delighted when I was selected.
"My sisters and I intended on flying over to the Solomon Islands but Covid put a stop to that, so it is very exciting that my dad and other family, who I haven’t seen for a long time, will get the chance to see me run."
It has been a busy few weeks for Evans-Tobata, who was head girl at Otago Girls’ High School last year.
She has been fine-tuning her training while finishing up her first-year studies in sociology and Pacific studies.
It has been a rapid rise for the runner, who enjoyed netball and touch before embracing athletics at the Caversham club when she followed in the footsteps of her sister, Sydney.
She ran a personal best time of 57.86sec to win 400m bronze at the New Zealand secondary schools championships in Inglewood last year.
"I was unsure of where I stood because before that event, I’d only done a few local races and my prior season was disrupted with a minor stress fracture of the foot," she said.
"I didn’t know how I’d perform against those girls with the fast times, so to finish third was a big confidence boost."
Evans-Tobata was fifth in the under-20 400m at the New Zealand championships in Wellington in March.
Dunedin has had some pleasant spring days, but running in 30°C-plus in Honiara might still be a shock to the system.
Evans-Tobata sought advice from Paralympic javelin champion Holly Robinson and has been spending time in the sauna to help her preparation.
"Once or twice a week, I’ve spent 50 minutes after each training session in the sauna. I didn’t like them at first, but over time I’ve learned to love it."
She is feeling confident about her chances in her specialist 400m at the Pacific Games.
While she has not competed in the 800m for a while, she would be delighted to carve a second or three off her personal best time of 2min 18.26sec.
After running in the Solomon Islands and catching up with her father, she will return to Dunedin to help as an official at the South Island Colgate Games at the Caledonian on January 12-14.
She is a former medallist at the annual celebration of junior athletics, and will also get to see her youngest sister, Elyanah, in action.
"It is not too hard to become a C grade official and it is great to be able to give back to the sport and take the load off the officials that officiate you all the time."
Athletics New Zealand is taking a 19-strong development team to the Pacific Games, which run all this week and next.
Among the team is former national 400m champion Camryn Smart, daughter of 1996 Olympic 800m finalist Toni Hodgkinson.
The 17th edition of the quadrennial Pacific Games will feature 5000 participants (athletes, officials and support staff) from 24 countries competing across 24 sports.
