T. Haarishankar of Singapore Sports School claims second gold in B Division boys’ 3000m

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Monday, 20 April, 2009 – T. Haarishankar of the Singapore Sports School made it two golds in as many events at the National Inter-School Track-and-Field Championships by winning the B division boys’ 3000m in a time of 9 minutes 44.25 seconds.

Finishing second and third respectively were Rodrigo Eugene Cyril of Victoria School and Sumanthiran Selvarajoo of St. Joseph’s Institution in respective times of 9:44.65 and 9:48.38 as the top-four runners crossed the finish line in the identical order as in the 2000m steeplechase the previous Friday. The unfortunate fourth-placer who missed out on a medal on both occasions being Prakash S/O Arasu of the Singapore Sports School.

Yeo Si Heng of Hwa Chong Institution and Jeevaneesh Soundaraja of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian had taken the race by its horns from the get-go, setting the pace for the rest of the field – one that the rest of the field was reluctant to follow.

Haarishankar exercised patience as he led the chase pack, knowing all too well that he had time to make up ground.

At 1400m, almost halfway into the race, Si Heng rapidly dropped off the pace as Haarishankar ate up ground on the two leaders. The chase pack soon reeled in the leaders and it was fair game now for everybody.

Another 800m in and unto the penultimate lap, there were multiple changes of the lead as the runners seeked to exert their influence on the development of the race. As the pace intensified, a group of five, consisting of Haarishankar and Prakash of the Sports School, Rodrigo of Victoria School, Sumanthiran of St. Joseph’s Institution and Jeevaneesh of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian, emerged wherefrom the champion had to surely break through.

As the bell rung and signalled to the runners the final lap, Haarishankar moved up a gear as his team-mate Prakash followed. The pack of five was now getting strung out as the runners were pressed into action or risked getting left marooned and without chance of a medal. There were two who were going to miss out from this pack of five.

One of them was visibly going to be Jeevaneesh as he paid for his early pace-making efforts. Haarishankar was building a slight lead over the other three now as they entered the final bend. Just as it seemed that he would safely run home with the gold medal, Rodrigo summoned a kick that brought him within touching distance of Haarishankar.

That made for an exciting finish down the home-stretch but Haarishankar held off Rodrigo to claim his second gold of the championships.

Reticent as he might have been when interviewed, Haarishankar certainly lacks no confidence when competing in a race. He said in reference to trailing significantly early on: “I knew I could catch up.”

Having also played runner-up to Haarishankar in the steeplechase, Rodrigo was asked for his game-plan countering him entering this race and he said: “I just went for it as it is my last year of competition. I also kept in mind my school’s motto of Nil Sine Labore that Nothing is Without Labour.”

On the resurgent Haarishankar, Rodrigo added: “It is obvious – he has got back his form.”

Indeed and he is yet another Secondary Three boy in the distance events, as Zachary Devaraj of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) comes to mind, who is taking the fight to the older Secondary Four and Secondary Five boys in the B division. Disappointingly though, they do not cross swords at these championships for they will surely provide a compelling watch going head-to-head after both their disappointments at this year’s Inter-School Cross-Country Championships.

Time Splits (unofficial)*
600m: 1:55
1000m: 3:16
1400m: 4:38
1800m: 5:59
2200m: 7:19
2600m: 8:39
3000m: 9:44.25

*Times refer to the leader at the end of each round.

Results (Top-Eight Only)

3000m B Division Boys
1. T. Haarishankar Singapore Sports School 9:44.25
2. Rodrigo Eugene Cyril Victoria School 9:44.65
3. Sumanthiran S/O Selvarajoo St. Joseph’s Institution 9:48.38
4. Prakash S/O Arasu Singapore Sports School 9:50.75
5. Jeevaneesh S/O Soundaraja Kuo Chuan Presbyterian 9:54.21
6. Leong Jia Juin Benjamin Raffles Institution 9:58.88
7. Wan Azhar CC 10:02.36
8. Teng Jian Hong Commonwealth Secondary 10:02.40

For full results, please refer to www.schoolsports.sg.

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For more pictures, go to the gallery.