Story and pictures by Lai Jun Wei
East Coast Park, Saturday, April 26, 2008 – Amidst fears of a brewing storm, Clara Wong of Methodist Girls’ School won the gold medal in the Individual Senior B Girls category with a timing of 37 minutes 16 seconds (swim: 14 min 23 sec, run: 22 min 54 sec), a slight drop from her previous timing clocked last year but nonetheless still a repeat of last year’s gold-medal feat.
Her father, Mr Benjamin Wong was quite happy about his daughter’s performance. With regards to the choppy waters, he commented, “I was definitely worried about Clara. Even though she has taken part in a few biathlons before, I was still concerned about her safety.” He is not putting much pressure on her with regards to future meets. “I want her to do what she wants. But I will definitely support her fully if she chooses to take part in another race.”
A shy Clara talked about her experience during this race. “I had a very bad swim. The waters were so choppy and the waves were very strong. It sort of brings me out of the water, which kind of slowed me down. It also caused me to swallow some sea water and it actually burns.” Though she was not the first out of the water, Clara clocked the best timing in the swim portion amongst the top three biathletes.
Her run did not go all smoothly as well. “I was very thirsty, and I also had a stitch. But I just tried to push on. There were some of the relay girls in front of me, so I just tried to run after them.” Clara also clocked the fastest timing for the run among the top three biathletes. With her timing, she was more than three minutes ahead of second place Samantha Ho from the Singapore Sports School. “I did not really feel threatened by the possibility of anyone over taking me. Some of my teammates were quite close to me and were chasing after me. But they were in the relay team so it wasn’t so bad.”
Clara came in third in the Inter-School Cross-Country Championship which just concluded on Wednesday. Yet she still managed to make a mark at this race. The Secondary Three girl does not have any particular hopes for the future. “I’m concentrating on my studies right now,” she quipped.
In the Primary School divisions, Nanyang Primary made a near complete sweep of the gold medals from the Junior A Division to C Division. With the exception of the Junior A Division Team where they came in third, they were first for every other event.
Methodist Girls’ and Raffles Institution dominated the Senior B and C Division Relays. Raffles Institution made a complete sweep in the B and C Division Boys category. Rafflesians filled the positions for first, second and third positions on the podium. Methodist Girls’ swept the B Division Relay and were second and third for the C Division relay, with Raffles’ Girls taking first place.
For the Individual events, a similar sight was seen. The results for the top three positions are as follow:
Senior C Division Boys
1st – Ng Tze Yang, Raffles Institution (S: 12:14min, R: 21:55min, T: 34:08min)
2nd – Marcus Ong, Raffles Institution (S: 13:08min, R: 23:25min, T: 36:33min)
3rd – Dion Tan, Anglo-Chinese School (International) (S: 14:34min, R: 23:54min, T: 38:27min)
Senior C Division Girls
1st – Chloe Chan, Cedar Girls’ (S: 15:09min, R: 23:12min, T: 38:21min)
2nd – Debbie Ho, Cedar Girls’ (S: 17:46min, R: 21:40min, T: 39:25min)
3rd – Jenell Tan, Singapore Sports School (S: 14:21min, R: 25:44min, T: 40:05min)
Senior B Division Boys
1st – Kenneth Lim, Raffles Institution (S: 12:11min, R: 21:32min, T: 33:42min)
2nd – Lim Zhi Ming, Raffles Institution (S: 14:28min, R: 19:26min, T: 33:54min)
3rd – Scott Ang, Singapore Sports School (S: 13:26min, R: 22:42min, T: 36:08min)
Senior B Division Girls
1st – Clara Wong, Methodist Girls’ School (S: 14:23min, R: 22:54min, T: 37:16min)
2nd – Samantha Ho, Singapore Sports School (S: 17:20min, R: 25:58min, T: 43:18min)
3rd – Sopisa Ngampakdeepanich, Hwa Chong International (S: 15:27min, R: 28:02min, T: 43:29min)
Senior C Division Boys Relay
1st – Gerald Sin, Benjamin Leong, Raffles Institution (S: 13:11min, R: 19:20min, T: 32:31min)
2nd – Syed Illyas Bin Syed Abdul Malik Aljunied, Muhd S, Raffles Institution (S: 12:50min, R: 20:24min, T: 33:14min)
3rd – Teo Zhen Ren, Ang Chen Xiang, Raffles Institution ( S: 12:13min, R: 21:24, T: 33:37,min)
Senior C Division Girls Relay
1st – Teo Jing Wen, Alicia Chiang, Raffles Girls’ School (S: 14:27min, R: 24:14min, T: 38:41min)
2nd – Melisa Tay, Janine Quek, Methodist Girls’ School (S: 15:51min, R: 14:14min, T: 40:05min)
3rd – Katherine Tay, Izati Binte Abu Hashim, Methodist Girls’ School (S: 16:44min, R: 24:51min, T: 41:34min)
Senior B Division Boys Relay
1st – Rainer Ng & Yong Shi Kai, Raffles Institution (S: 11:38min, R: 18:06min, T: 29:44min)
2nd – Yeo Jia Chen & Lee Guan Lin, Raffles Institution (S: 12:03min, R: 18:52min, T: 30:54min)
3rd – Daniel Tay & Sean Lim, Raffles Institution (S: 12:57min, R: 19:28min, T: 32:24min)
Senior B Division Girls Relay
1st – Rachel Goh & Alexandria Wong, Methodist Girls’ School (S: 13:38min, R: 21:43 min, T: 35:21min)
2nd – Michelle Tang & Charissa Ong, Methodist Girls’ School (S: 15:07min, R: 22:31min, T: 37:37min)
3rd – Dora Lim & Janell Tan, Methodist Girl’s School (S: 18:09min, R: 22:37min, T: 40:46min)
JC Senior A Division Boys
1st – Joash Chong Jing Xiong, Anglo-Chinese (Independent) (S: 13:02min, R: 20:26min, T: 33:28min)
2nd – Tay You Wei Adriel, Raffles Junior College (S: 13:54min, R: 20:13min, T: 34:07min)
3rd – Halligan Davind Quin, United World College (S: 14:44min, R: 20:23min, T: 35:06min)
JC Senior A Division Girls
1st – Tan Pei Shan, Raffles Junior College (S: 13:33min, R: 23:48min, T: 37:18min)
2nd – Koh Shi Man Samantha, Hwa Chong Institution (S: 16:11min , R: 22:59min , T: 39:09min)
3rd – Boo Xiao Ying Christine, Raffles Junior College (S: 15:24min, R: 26:49min, T: 42:13min)
JC Senior A Division Boys Relay
1st – Ng Tze Kang, Soh Hua Qun, Raffles Junior College (S: 11:31min, R: 17:43min, T: 29:13min)
2nd – Ng Jia Hao, Soh Rui Yong, Raffles Junior College (S: 14:18min, R: 16:49min, T: 31:07min)
3rd – Loo Chih Chiang David, Allan Teng Kok Tong, Anglo-Chinese Junior College (S: 14:33min, R: 17:13min, T: 31:45min)
JC Senior A Division Girls Relay
1st – Loke En Yuan, Mun Weilin, Anglo-Chinese Junior College (S: 13:59min, R: 21:22min, T:35:21min)
2nd – Gan Su-Li Katrina, Tan Siew Yan Audrey, Raffles Junior College (S: 13:54min, R: 23:17min, T: 37:11min)
3rd – Diviya Menon, Cheah Shu Xian, Anglo-Chinese Junior College, (S: 14:27min, R: 23:47min, T: 38:14min)
Tertiary Division Men
1st – Mok Ying Ren, National University of Singapore (S: 13:26min, R: 18:24min, T: 31:50min)
2nd – Sikhander Singh, National University of Singapore (S: 15:06min, R: 20:02min, T: 35:08min)
3rd – Lim Wei Qiang, Temasek Polytechnic, (S: 15:30min, R: 20:34min, T: 36:04min)
Tertiary Division Women
1st – Dinah Chan, National University of Singapore (S: 16:30min, R: 21:38min, T: 28:07min)
2nd – Lin Zhi Yun, National University of Singapore (S: 17:59min, R: 26:57min, T: 44:55min)
3rd – Choo Ling Er, Singapore Polytechnic (S: 22:57min, R: 23:40min, T: 46:37min)
Tertiary Division Men’s Relay
1st – Yeo Kai Quan, Philip S/O Ramachandran, Nanyang Polytechnic (S: 12:22min, R: 18:09min, T: 30:31min)
2nd – Dharsaka Hansaka Tennakoon, Yeo, Republic Polytechnic (S: 13:22min, R: 20:19min, T: 33:41min)
3rd – Gong Ji Yi, Chua Kelvin, Temasek Polytechnic (S: 14:56min, R: 19:30min, T: 34:26min)
Tertiary Division Women’s Relay
1st – Ng Wei Jing, Huang Shifei Angela, National University of Singapore (S: 17:59min, R: 23:14min, T: 41:13min)
2nd – Yong Sixiu, Nur Radhyiah, Temasek Polytechnic (S: 18:06min, R: 23:26min, T: 41:31min)
3rd – Cheong Yuhan Natalie, Chye Lu Yee, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (S: 16:30min, R: 25:34min, T: 42:03min)
Well done everyone!
Ed’s note: If you recognise yourself or your teammate, feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
More pictures in the gallery.
the acjc girl in photo 17 is mun weilin
picture 14 is joseph goh from CJC
Kindly also post the relay results please.
thank you.
Well Done, Clara !!! keep it up!