Story and pictures by REDintern Colin Tung
Mok Ying Ren leads student-athletes on a short run. (Photo 1 © Colin Tung/Red Sports)
St Andrew’s Junior College, Friday, January 30, 2009 — 2007 SEA Games triathlon gold medalist Mok Ying Ren was on hand as an ambassador for the inaugural 2009 Milo/MOE Youth TRYathlon last Friday.
Singapore’s first youth triathlon event is slated for Saturday, 7 March, at Sentosa’s Tanjong Beach for student-athletes between the ages of 8 and 18 years.
“I like the idea of this event as it emphasises enjoying the sport without the pressures of having to win,” said Ying Ren. “This is what Singaporean kids need as a deviation from the daily grind they are used to with rankings and results.”
The event, which consists of back-to-back swim, bike, and run legs, will adopt a non-competition format and every participant will receive an event singlet and a goodie bag, as well as a finisher’s trophy.
Organised by the Racers’ Toolbox, the event will have a junior (8-11 years), an intermediate (12-15 years), and a senior (16-18 years) category. For those not confident yet of taking on all three disciplines of the triathlon, there is the option of the relay where the composition of the team will not be restricted by age.
Suresh Narayanan, Managing Director for Nestle Singapore, said that the event will be about “participation in the absence of rankings and timings.”
For those who think the event sounds difficult, event director, Scott Larsen, said: “Triathlons can be fun. Get wet, have a bike ride, and have fun!”
For more details of the event, visit www.tryathlon.com.sg.
Mok Ying Ren (second from right) hopes to “encourage kids to enjoy sports and at the same time, learn to juggle between commitments, just like juggling training for the various disciplines in a triathlon.” He’s joined by Ben Pulham of Racers’ Toolbox (extreme right) and sponsor representatives. (Photo © Colin Tung/Red Sports)
Student-athletes attending a talk by Ying Ren. (Photo © Colin Tung/Red Sports)
Nope not a triathlete, but one of my close friend from UK is an international triathlete and he used to come over to SEA to compete very often – he was the one who introduced me to the sport here, otherwise I wouldn’t even have known about the community in Singapore. I used to read asiarunner dot com too. : )
Yes Jeanette usually covers the running stories for ST, she was professional with this story like I’ve said, she perhaps just wasn’t given the scope/permission to explore beyond what the ‘top’ wants the story to be about. Seen her a couple of times at events, never had a chance to speak to her, though. Next time. : )
oops. i realised u’re not the one who wrote the ST article 😡
so, jan, are u a trialete yourself? 🙂 you said that you’re a journalist. were u the one who wrote the article? cos i only jeanette wang as a triathlete as well as working in the media industry 🙂
no worries triathlete, all the best to you too. : )
m sorry for the mixed up. i didn’t read ur comment properly. well, all the best to the both triathletes in the upcoming ITU events.
Hi Triathlete,
I’m not in favour of the front page news, in case you didn’t sense my sarcasm questioning the necessity of the suggestive angle in my comment. ; ) I know several international triathletes who will see the front page news and cringe by the lack of news sense.
We didn’t published this news to improve his image. We would have published this earlier if we weren’t kept busy with other stories. So it was uncanny that this was published on the same day. Even the writer, who knows Ying Ren, definitely didn’t write this to improve his image, he has already emailed this to us way before Sunday. : )
As a journalist, I’m giving the mainstream media’s writer the benefit of doubt about the angling choice of the story because I understand the pressure of yielding to what the editor wants. Unless the pair has offended the writer somehow, otherwise there is nothing personal about the suggestive stance of the story.
hi jan
the TRYathlon event was advertised on the media as well as during the news section on every singapore channel. this article in is no way trying to bring up the image of ying ren. whether national athletes or not, they should have the freedom to date whosoever.
they have both given an explanation of why they were in the same room and have admitted that it is contrary to the code of conduct and will watch their behaviour from now. a year ban is too harsh a punishment for them. both of them are top triathletes, singapore cannot afford not to let them forgo major events.
the OSIM triathlon has hence been merged with the ITU and singapore’s leg in may is one of the qualifying stages that they need to go through in order to qualify for the grand final in australia. without major competitions, these triathletes wouldn’t be able to see the upcoming pressure and competition they face.
talk about today’s news for example. micheal phelps was caught smoking cannabis jus 3 months after his historic win in beijing. he has formerly apologised and no actions were taken. ying ren and dinah were merely seen in the room together not in an compromising situation.
the both of them are good people if you know them personally. they are humble abt their achievements and i’m sure they have learnt their lessons. they have undergone a long period of investigation with regard to this issue. it has already been tough for them and there are details which are not supposed to be revealed to the media to protect the personnel involved, including the organisations and the triathlete themselves. just like a rape victim’s name will never be made known to the media to protect her. details of what happened shouldn’t even have been made known to the media and yet, the triathletes were betrayed. they were told by both FAS and SSC to keep mum about it and yet, news of this covered half the page of the prime sections. they do not deserve this. ying ren is a medical student and dinah is in NIE. what is gg to happen to dinah when she goes out teaching?
the media has definitely not spared them despite the harsh punishment. my heart goes out to them.
Hi SSF,
It’s not about reporting positive or negative news so to speak, its about the nature of the news itself. Notice I use “side” because I consider the piece awkwardly angled, feels like the writer was forced to, or put in a compromised position to write this piece.
I left from reading the news not knowing what/why was this piece of news written about/for? It was a haphazard piece in my opinion, a piece of writing that is awkwardly stuck in between a tabloid and a newsworthy “prime news” because of the presumptuous nature.
Well, at first glance, yes the public has the right to be aware of “the rules and codes of conduct that athletes have to abide by when on national duty”. Putting it on front page already (mis)guide people to think that it “has to be” newsworthy… right?
But, if you consider the content and choice of words carefully, one look at that piece, it just screams at me ‘intention, intention, intention’. What is the intention of this piece of news? By the 3rd paragraph it is clear that it is angled to be a presumptuous piece.
In fact, even the relationship is just “widely speculated”, then isn’t the national paper just positioning itself as another arm in turning the rumour mill? Its irresponsible for a national paper, because we are talking about 2 people, national athletes or not.
There were so many other gaps in the story.
Already in the next paragraph, the news was in contradiction. Well, news make front page because of “major” bans, and then later it is revealed said that they will not be banned at “major” events, its like after all that hype, ‘Chehh, then why front page?’ Then I’m intrigued that why as a national paper did they not pursue how the bomb threats could have been a threat to the security and safety of the national athletes?
I’m not saying that the pair handled the situation to the best of their ability, but if this news is intended to be about codes of conduct, then I certainly did not go away understanding what should an athlete do when caught in between safety versus rules?
I just feel that, as a national paper, the poor writer could/should have been given more room to explore the scope of the story.
Otherwise, as it now stands, will the public go away from this news having gained a deeper understanding of athletes’ professional conduct? Or will the public just be left chewing on the pair’s undisclosed relationship and what went on behind the closed doors?
My money’s on the latter.
Apologies for the number of spelling mistakes. I really hate the keyboard on my laptop
Hi Jan
To be fair to the ‘mainstream media’, the incident that Ying Ren was involved in was newsworthy so you can’t blame it for publishing he report, even though it wasn’t ‘positive’ to his image.
And I don’t think there is any hiden agenda in publishing that story about Yin Ren. It was newswothy, it involved a national athlete and it highights the rules and codes of conduct that athletes have to abide by when on national duty.
If everyone – inculudng Red Sports – refrains from reporting less than positive news, then that would be the death of sports journalism. After all, isn’t journalism all about presenting the truth in its many forms and from different points of view?
Having said all that, it was good to note that Ying Ren was quoted as saying that he is happy that the matter has been resolved and thathe would like to move on from here.
It shows a high lvel of maturity – or at the very least, the ability to know how to engae the media.
Cheers
Hi Colin, this is a really refreshing + uplifting read, and how apt for it to be published today, with the mainstream media disclosing a piece of far from positive “side” news of Mok on today’s front page.