Story and pictures by REDintern Colin Tung.

soh rui yong raffles 5000m

Soh Rui Yong cruising. (Photo 1 © Colin Tung/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Tuesday, March 14, 2009 – Soh Rui Yong of Raffles Institution successfully defended his 5000m A Division boys’ title at the 50th National Inter-School Track-and-Field Championships. He clocked 16 minutes 38.53 seconds in defense of the title he won in 2008 as a junior college freshman.

In a repeat of their domination at this year’s Cross-Country Championships, the Raffles Institution runners swept the podium with Lim Zhi Ming and Kevin Goh crossing the finish line in second place and third place in times of 16:51.06 and 17:10.60 respectively.

The 5000m was the last race of the day and Rui Yong lined up aiming to go sub-16 minutes on the back of a 16:03.15 performance two Sundays ago at the 4th All-Comers meet.

As the starter’s gun boomed into the twilight skies, Rui Yong kicked off to a fast start, encouraged no less by adrenalin pumping in his veins. The rest of the field took his lead with Raffles Institution’s Zhi Ming and Victoria Junior College’s Lee Ming Hui leading the chase pack.

Running from the front, Rui Yong kept up the hard pace in the early rounds as he soon established a 60m to 70m lead. With approximately three laps to go, the lead he built extended to almost 80m. With a sub-16 min timing slipping out of his grasp in one hand, he began to sew up the win in the other.

“My first aim was to win. Second was to go under 16 (minutes) but later in the race, I felt my legs tiring and so I eased off and focused on securing the win as there is the 3000m steeplechase final still to run on Friday,” said Rui Yong after the race.

While Rui Yong was cruising to his win over 12.5 laps of the track, the race for the second and third places was on.

Ming Hui was once again seeking to upset the established order of Raffles Institution runners like he did at the Cross-Country Championships when he garnered third place. Ming Hui kept himself just off the shoulder of Zhi Ming lap after lap and waited for his opportunity to pounce. Zhi Ming kept unrelenting pace, hoping to wear his opponent down in a war of attrition.

About a mile and four laps away from the finish, the sun and its light winding down into the horizon, daylight grew between Zhi Ming and Ming Hui as Zhi Ming’s pace found a chink in Ming Hui’s armour.

Weakened, Ming Hui dropped further and further off Zhi Ming. While Zhi Ming was engaging his opponent in battle, his team-mate Kevin Goh in fourth place was lurking close behind the two of them, biding his time to make his move.

Zhi Ming seemed to have won the battle for second place and now, it was down to Kevin for his part in Raffles Institution’s fairy-tale story. Their coach, Mr Steven Quek, sensed that and began to egg on Kevin from the spectators’ stands.

Kevin pressed on and ultimately overhauled Ming Hui for the bronze medal 2.5 laps away from the finish. Ming Hui faded to fourth position, about forty seconds behind Kevin, his close friend and former team-mate at Victoria School, in a time of 17:49.11.

“The early pace was quite fast so I was not very concerned with trailing Zhi Ming and Ming Hui as there was still some way to go for me to catch up with them,” said Kevin, when asked about his trailing in fourth position for the initial half of the race. “I saw the gap between Zhi Ming and him increasing so I just told myself to go for it… When I got it (third place), I told myself not to lose it.”

Having made a valiant effort once again to stand up to the Raffles Institution onslaught, Ming Hui was pressed for his feelings in losing out the race for first the silver medal then ultimately the bronze medal to close friend Kevin.

“I am happy for Kevin that he got third place… I think he deserves it because I can see he has made a lot of changes such as quitting DOTA (Defence of the Ancients, a popular game) and balancing his studies since joining RI and that shows he really wants it.”

In reply to Ming Hui’s comment, Kevin said with a laugh: “I am an appeal student to RI so I told myself not to waste the two years there and that means I have to study and run well and make sacrifices such as giving up DOTA.”

Raffles Institution’s future in distance running and cross-country does seem bright with Zhi Ming and Kevin both only in their first year of junior college. With Raffles Institution tipped to win the 800m and 1500m finals to come, can other traditional powerhouses such as Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Hwa Chong Institution and Victoria Junior College challenge their stranglehold on the distance events next year?

At these Nationals, not only are there exciting races to watch but inspiring stories of friendship and sacrifices to unfold. Red Sports will be there to keep our eyes out for your story – the Singapore story. So if you see our crew and you know a story to tell, do talk to us or even write your own story and send it in!

The National Inter-School Track-and-Field Championships run from 13 April Monday to 23 April Thursday. For the full schedule of events and results, please refer to www.rjcat.com for details.

Results (top-eight only)
1. Soh Rui Yong Raffles Institution 16:38.53
2. Lim Zhi Ming Raffles Institution 16:51.06
3. Goh Yi Dao Kevin Raffles Institution 17:10.60
4. Lee Ming Hui Victoria Junior College 17:49.11
5. Banjamin Quek Victoria Junior College 17:49.54
6. Tse Rong Gary Hwa Chong Institution 18:00.49
7. Kam Siu Han Lawrence National Junior College 18:22.66
8. Lim Zhi Zhe Garry Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 18:31.35

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Soh easy for Raffles Institution as they add 3000m steeplechase podium sweep to the one in the 5000m
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Final day preview of Inter-School Track and Field Championships
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Berenice Lian of RGS holds off Clara Poon of Cedar Girls' for B Division 800m win
Superman Adriel Tay lands 1500m A Division win for third Raffles Institution podium sweep

For more pictures, go to the gallery.