Soh Rui Yong achieves rare A Division double as six Raffles Institution boys finish in the top eight

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures by Vanessa Lim, Marvin Lowe and Les Tan.

Temasek Polytechnic Stadium, Wednesday, March 25, 2009 – Soh Rui Yong of Raffles Institution won the A Division individual cross-country title for the second consecutive year as the Raffles boys filled six of the top eight positions in a masterful 1-2-4-5-7-8 finish to claim the team title.

Running the 4.6km route around Bedok Reservoir and ending at the Temasek Polytechnic track, Soh triumphantly crossed the finished line in a time of 15 minutes 20.86 seconds. Team-mate Lim Zhi Ming, who finished second at the recent Singapore Biathlon behind Mok Ying Ren, trailed him in a time of 15:21.90. Lee Ming Hui of Victoria Junior College prevented a Raffles Institution sweep of the podium by coming in third in a time of 15:34.92.

Soh arose on Wednesday morning with the tag of defending A Division cross-country champion and was seeking to join an exclusive club of double cross-country champions at A Division level.

Admittedly, he was nervous on the night before the race and “only slept four hours.”

Despite being a cross-country and 5000m champion in 2008 at the National Schools Championships, this race was different from the rest.

“It’s the first time I am going into a race as the favourite,” said Rui Yong after the race. “I have run most races recently with Mok (at the SAA National Cross-Country Championships and Wings Cross-Country Championships) or others (such as the Gurkhas in the 10 km event at Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon) who would lead the pace. This time, I had to be the one leading the pace and running from the front.”

The Raffles Institution team can also be proud of the commanding manner of their win. Their team score of twelve points is only two points above the lowest possible of ten. Even if their fifth and sixth runners’ scores were added to their total team score, Raffles Institution would still have won with 27 points. Victoria Junior College had 33 points from their top-four runners.

When asked about how he felt about his team’s win, Raffles Institution captain Su Yen Bing, in a struggle for words, said that he was “very happy.”

When probed about the secret to their flourishing success, Su added: “We trained very hard, controlled our diets and were very focused and determined. We also struck a balance between studies and running.”

While the A Division boys’ race saw a display in strength and depth of the Raffles Institution team, the B Division boys’ race proved just as exciting with a photo finish and an upset.

Ruben Galen Demetrius of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary, after leading for most parts of the race, was caught unaware by Sumanthiran Selvarajoo of St. Joseph’s Institution in the last few metres of the race and lost the individual championship title by a hair’s breadth. Only six thousandths of a second separated the winner Selvarajoo in a time of 15:43.85 from runner-up Demetrius in a time of 15:43.91. Rodrigo Eugene Cyril of Victoria School was third in 15:49.92.

Sumanthiran Selvarajoo, who was the 2007 C Division boys’ champion, was evidently happy with the result.

“I trained for four years for this. I didn’t want to waste any of it.”

On the flipside, Ruben Demetrius displayed obvious disappointment at coming so close to winning.

“I didn’t know he was coming. I only pushed when I realised him closing down on me.”

Demetrius gave an indication of the mistake he made when he said that he thought he “won the race already” though he knew Selvarajoo’s “finishing kick is very strong.”

The surprise of the B Division boys race came when Zachary Devaraj of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) tripped up near the end of the race before the bridge that took them into the Temasek Polytechnic grounds.

“I was in second place, just overtaking the first guy (at the time) – Ruben Demetrius of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary – when I tripped and stumbled,” said Zachary. “It disrupted my momentum and I just couldn’t recover.”

Zachary Devaraj had been one of the favourites to win in the B Division with his victories in the last month at the Wings Cross-Country Championships and the Akira-Swift Cross-Country Championships.

Naturally, he was disappointed but conveyed a sense of optimism saying “there’s next year.” Zachary is 15 and in Secondary Three this year.

With the A and B Divisions, there is always a heightened sense of competitiveness amongst the runners. With the C division runners though, there is a greater sense of unadulterated fun and free-spiritedness.

The top-two runners in the C Division, Karthic Ragupathy of St. Joseph’s Institution and Venuraam Selvan of Victoria School who finished first and second respectively, both shared that they are first-timers in the National Inter-School Cross-Country scene. Karthic and Venuraam finished in times of 16:30.24 and 16:30.80 respectively. The top-three finished less than a second apart as Heng Yu Jie of Catholic High School completed the trio in a time of 16:30.99.

The winner, Karthic, showed his youthful exuberance as he eloquently articulated the feelings that went through him as he approached the home-straight down the finish line.

“I had wanted to stop before the track but a creature inside of me erupted and told me to go for it – for the medal and beat the Victoria School guy. I didn’t expect myself to win. It is a surprise. My parents are also very proud of me,” he said.

In finishing second, Venuraam Selvan said that he was “overjoyed.”

LTC Fred Cheong, guest-of-honour at the event and a wing commander at the Officer Cadet School (OCS) also could not help but let on that the “vibrant sound of youth” that he heard “reminded [him] of [his] youth.”

Note: This story only covers the boys’ races. Read the other stories for the report on the girls’ races and summary of the team results.

Related Stories

Raffles Institution sweeps boys’ and girls’ titles at National Inter-School Cross-Country Championships

Clara Wong in surprise victory over Mok Ying Rong at schools’ cross-country championships

Boys’ Individual Results (top-twenty only)

A Division
1. Soh Rui Yong Raffles Institution 15:20.86
2. Lim Zhi Ming Raffles Institution 15:21.90
3. Lee Ming Hui Victoria Junior College 15:34.92
4. Soh Hua Qun Raffles Institution 15:38.80
5. Su Yen Bing Raffles Institution 15:39.47
6. Lian Wei Cong Victoria Junior College 15:42.72
7. Tay You Wei Adriel Raffles Institution 15:46.80
8. Goh Di Yao Kevin Raffles Institution 15:48.33
9. Tse Rong Gary Hwa Chong Institution (College) 16:10.37
10. Saripalli Kundan Reddy Victoria Junior College 16:14.06
11. Zorndrix Dass Anglo-Chinese Junior College 16:14.61
12. Lim Zhi Zhe Garry Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 16:24.04
13. Choo Shi Jun Hwa Chong Institution 16:25.35
14. Marcus Tan Yi Shuan Victoria Junior College 16:26.45
15. Tan Ke Rong Anglo-Chinese Junior College 16:31.32
16. Tan Yi Wen Victoria Junior College 16:34.80
17. Azman Bin Aziz Catholic Junior College 16:35.68
18. Banjamin Quek Wei Jian Victoria Junior College 16:35.76
19. Kumaran S/O Kalaiselvan Boon Lay Secondary 16:53.31
20. K. Sarravanan Anglo-Chinese Junior College 16:54.20

B Division
1. Sumanthiran S/O Selvarajoo St. Joseph’s Institution 15:43.85
2. Ruben Galen Demetrius Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary 15:43.91
3. Rodrigo Eugene Cyril Victoria School 15:49.92
4. Prakash S/O Arasu Singapore Sports School 16:01.80
5. Leong Jia Juin Benjamin Raffles Institution 16:03.90
6. Jeevaneesh S/O Soundararajah Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary 16:10.61
7. Sherwin Yeo Jun Kang Catholic High School 16:16.37
8. Leo Geoffrey Westerhout Victoria School 16:17.34
9. Teng Jian Hong Commonwealth Secondary School 16:20.29
10. Koh Yi Thong River Valley High 16:20.34
11. Wan Azhar Bin Wan Iskandar Chai Chee Secondary 16:25.78
12. Roy Chiang Weihao Catholic High School 16:29.16
13. Loh Zhen Yao, Gavin Catholic High School 16:30.16
14. T. Haarishankar Singapore Sports School 16:33.95
15. Hieng Pheak Kdey Victoria School 16:35.68
16. Jonathan Teo Zhao Wen Catholic High School 16:36.20
17. Yeo Siheng Hwa Chong Institution 16:38.40
18. Faiz Anis Bin Mohamad Commonwealth Secondary 16:38.58
19. Sean Lim Yi Fang Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 16:41.36
20. Seow Yeong Yang Raffles Institution 16:43.27

C Division
1. Karthic Harish Ragupathy St. Joseph’s Institution 16:30.24
2. Venuraam S/O Selvan Victoria School 16:30.80
3. Heng Yu Jie Catholic High School 16:30.99
4. Yong Ren Wei Bryan Victoria School 16:39.23
5. Marcus Ng Yu Pei Victoria School 16:3940
6. Marc Amiruddin Singapore Sports School 16:40.27
7. Tan Hoe En Jonathan Raffles Institution 17:07.02
8. Muhammad Sadiq Boon Lay Secondary 17:12.95
9. Josiah Wee Singapore Sports School 17:19.61
10. Thitikorn Ngampakdeepan Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 17:22.62
11. Wee Cheng Hao, Ryan Catholic High School 17:33.09
12. Dubey Kissan Kumar Singapore Sports School 17:33.77
13. Gregory Teo Yi Rong Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 17:44.34
14. Vikneswaran S/O Thayalam Changkat Changi Secondary 17:57.09
15. Muhd Shahizam Bin Rasid Pierce Secondary 18:00.07
16. M. Asraf Bin Atan Ngee Ann Secondary 18:04.45
17. Lim Xianda Victoria School 18:04.83
18. Goy Shen Catholic High School 18:06.88
19. James Asikin Cheung Catholic High School 18:09.16
20. Ng Jun Wah Catholic High School 18:17.88

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