Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Pictures by Marvin Lowe/Red Sports.
Raffles Institution’s Lim Zhi Ming leads the charge of schoolboys in the men’s open race, finishing third in a time of 14 minutes 6.20 seconds over the 4.2km course. (Photo 1 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Bedok Reservoir Park, Saturday, February 27, 2010 – Raffles Institution (RI) swept the men’s and women’s open team titles at the 9th Wings Cross-Country Championships, sending a strong message to rival schools that they would need a really strong challenge to be knocked off their perch as reigning A Division cross-country champions in both gender categories.
The RI boys took the men’s open team title with 26 points (lowest points based on the top-four finishers of a team). Wings Athletics Club and MacRitchie Runners 25 (MR25) were second and third with 46 points and 55 points respectively.
In the women’s open category, the RI girls won with a tally of 18 points. Cedar Girls’ Secondary and Anglo-Chinese Junior College were runners-up and third with 31 points and 64 points respectively.
The Wings Cross-Country Championships presented the last opportunity for school teams to gain race experience ahead of the National Inter-School Cross-Country Championships at the same venue on 24 March. The race organisers obviously kept the schools’ interests in mind by starting the race in the morning – the same start time as the National Inter-School Championships.
There was no Under-20 category at the Wings Cross-Country Championships and so, runners who will be competing in the A Division (under-20) at the National Inter-School Cross-Country Championships found themselves in the open categories with older runners to push them to faster times.
The top four RI boys in the men’s open category, contributing to the team’s points tally, were Lim Zhi Ming, Kevin Goh, Mohd Mahdi Marican and Lee Xuan De who placed 3rd, 4th, 7th and 10th respectively.
Lim Zhi Ming, the 2009 inter-school A Division boys’ runner-up, has found a resurgence in form at the right time with the National Inter-School Cross-Country Championships less than a month away. He had finished 10th in the boys’ under-20 category behind teammates Kevin Goh and Johnathan Wong in late January at the Singapore Athletics Association (SAA) National Cross-Country Championships.
At the Wings Cross-Country Championships, his third-place finish, in a time of 14 minutes 6.20 seconds over the 4.2km course, installed him as the top schoolboy. Lim Kien Mau and Soh Rui Yong, the winner and runner-up in times of 13:26.14 and 14:03.66 respectively in the men’s open category, are not his competitors at the national inter-school level.
In the women’s open race, RI’s Mok Ying Rong gave Vivian Tang a spirited fight as the pair engaged in a tête-à -tête ahead of the rest of the field. Mok hung onto Singapore’s top female marathoner for most of the race but succumbed ultimately in a time of 16:09.22 – 11 seconds slower than Tang’s 15:58.72. Look Xinqi, also of RI, rounded up the top-three with a time of 16:52.26.
In the girls’ under-14 and under-17 categories, River Valley High fended off powerhouses such as CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School, Methodist Girls’ School and Cedar Girls’ Secondary to emerge tops.
Both the River Valley High girls’ under-14 and under-17 teams put up commendable performances, winning their categories with low point tallies of 11 and 17 points respectively.
In the under-17 boys’ category, Aldrich Lim of Naval Base Secondary added to his growing list of achievements with yet another win as he established himself as a firm favourite for the national inter-school under-17 boys’ individual title. He clocked 14:20.19 to beat Marc Amiruddin of the Singapore Sports School into second place. Amiruddin was over 10 seconds behind in a time of 14:31.37.
In the under-14 boys’ category, Marcus Ng of Victoria School put in a stand-out run to finish almost 30 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Heng Yu Jie of Catholic High. Marcus’ time of 14:15.92 makes him the third-fastest schoolboy across all divisions. He would have won the under-17 category and placed sixth in the men’s open category as well.
Su Zann of River Valley High finishes 13 seconds ahead of teammate Valencia Quah to take the win in the girls’ under-14 category. (Photo 2 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Winsy Li of CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School denies River Valley High the satisfaction of gaining both the individual and team titles by emerging as the fastest girl in the under-17 category. She beat River Valley High’s Joanne Chew by six seconds. (Photo 3 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Joanne Chew headed River Valley High’s triumph in the girls’ under-17 category in a 2-4-5-6 finish. (Photo 4 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
The under-14 boys start their race. (Photo 5 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Aldrich Lim of Naval Base Secondary savours his victory in the boys’ under-17 category. (Photo 6 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Vivian Tang’s experience shone through as she fought off the challenge of 17-year-old Mok Ying Rong of Raffles Institution for the women’s open win over the shorter women’s course of 4.0km. (Photo 7 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Mok Ying Rong will spearhead the Raffles Institution team’s defence of their National Inter-School Cross-Country Championship title. (Photo 8 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Look Xinqi of Raffles Institution finishes third behind teammate Mok Ying Rong in the women’s open race. (Photo 9 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Romaine Soh of Cedar Girls’ Secondary, competing one age-group higher in the women’s open category, gave a commendable performance to finish in fourth place. Her time of 16 minutes 56.39 seconds would have won her the under-17 category by 43 seconds. (Photo 10 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Berenice Lian is just one of three top-notch additions to Raffles Institution’s girls’ team. Mok Ying Rong and her joined Raffles Institution from Raffles Girls’ School this year while Wan Zahrah Binte Ahmad Alif Lim joined from Cedar Girls’ Secondary. Mok and Wan Zahrah were the B Division girls’ silver and bronze medallists respectively at the 2009 National Inter-School Cross-Country Championships. Berenice had finished eighth. (Photo 11 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Lim Kien Mau of MacRitchie Runners 25 (MR25) shows himself a cut above the rest as he wins the men’s open race and is the only man to go under 14 minutes on the 4.2km course. (Photo 12 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Runner-up Soh Rui Yong sports a new buzz cut, courtesy of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He had only decided to run the race at the last minute as he was not sure of his availability due to basic military training commitments. (Photo 13 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Kevin Goh finishes behind Raffles Institution teammate Zhi Ming in fourth place. (Photo 14 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Colin Tung (in yellow) of Wings Athletics Club leads a line of runners to finish in 8th position. (Photo 15 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Aussie runner Anna Thompson (#2353), who is bound for the World Cross-Country Championships on 28 March in Bydgoszcz, Poland, tests herself against the men here. She clocked 14 minutes 17.13 seconds that would have placed her sixth in the men’s open category. (Photo 16 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)
Results
Men’s Open
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Lim Kien Mau, MacRitchie Runners 25 Team A – 13 minutes 26.14 seconds
2. Soh Rui Yong, Wings Athletics Club – 14:03.66
3. Lim Zhi Ming, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 14:06.20
4. Kevin Goh Yi Dao, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 14:10.53
5. Clive Alley, MacRitchie Runners 25 Team B – 14:14.87
6. James Copinger-Symes, MacRitchie Runners 25 Team A – 14:18.70
7. Mohd Mahdi Marican, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 14::26.16
8. Colin Tung, Wings Athletics Club – 14:32.78
9. Madankumar Balakrishnan, Wings Athletics Club – 14:33.75
10. Lee Xuan De, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 14:35.12
Team (Top-3 only)
1. Raffles Institution Team 1 – 26 points
2. Wings Athletics Club – 46
3. MacRitchie Runners 25 Team A – 55
Women’s Open
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Vivian Tang, (individual) – 15:58.72
2. Mok Ying Rong, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 16:09.22
3. Look Xinqi, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 16:52.26
4. Romaine Soh Rui Min, Cedar Girls’ Secondary Team A – 16:56.39
5. Anabelle Yee, Catholic Junior College – 16:59.51
6. Wan Zahrah Binte Ahmad Alif Lim, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 17:00.47
7. Lian Xueli Berenice, Raffles Institution Team 1 – 17:09.74
8. Cheryl Chan Xue Rou, Cedar Girls’ Secondary Team A – 17:19.39
9. Debbie Ho Min, Cedar Girls’ Secondary Team A – 17:46.02
10. Jerusha Chee Shu Yi, Cedar Girls’ Secondary Team A – 17:59.40
Team (Top-3 only)
1. Raffles Institution Team 1 – 18
2. Cedar Girls’ Secondary Team A – 31
3. Anglo-Chinese Junior College Team 2 – 64
Boys’ Under-17
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Aldrich Lim Jing Hong, (individual) – 14:20.19
2. Marc Amiruddin, Singapore Sports School – 14:31.37
3. Yong Ren Wei Bryan, Victoria School Team C – 14:48.61
4. Benjamin Leong, Raffles Institution Team A – 15:06.26
5. Hieng Pheak Kdey, Victoria School Team C – 15:07.75
6. Sherwin Yeo, Catholic High – 15:10.13
7. Jonathan Tan, Raffles Institution Team A – 15:16.10
8. Gregory Teo, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 15:24.22
9. Liaw Jun Lin Max, St. Andrew’s Secondary – 15:30.05
10. Low Ee Chang, Team Unity – 15:30.95
Team (Top-3 only)
1. Victoria School Team C – 41
2. Raffles Institution Team A – 48
3. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 61
Girls’ Under-17
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Li Ying Si Winsy, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School – 17:39.01
2. Joanne Chew Chi Ching, River Valley High – 17:45.15
3. Jannielle Lim Yan Han, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School – 17:52.11
4. Hee Yu Ning, River Valley High – 18:06.13
5. Jolene Quek, River Valley High – 18:09.60
6. Leung Sin Yung, River Valley High – 18:12.11
7. Teo Kay Lynn, Raffles Girls’ School – 18:16.63
8. Tabitha Ong Jie Yi, Singapore Sports School – 18:20.41
9. Orisa Ngampakdeepanich, Methodist Girls’ School – 18:40.32
10. Loh Yue Yin, River Valley High – 18:45.33
Team (Top-3 only)
1. River Valley High – 17
2. CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School – 45
3. Methodist Girls’ School – 57
Boys’ Under-14
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Marcus Ng Yu Pei, Victoria School Team A – 14:15.92
2. Heng Yu Jie, Catholic High – 14:45.51
3. Joshua Nga, Catholic High – 15:19.55
4. Mahes S/O Selvan, Victoria School Team A – 15:31.39
5. Ariff Izzudin, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 15:47.21
6. Muhd Shahizam Bin Rasid, Peirce Team A – 15:48.65
7. Abdul Tsaqif, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 15:52.33
8. Thitikorn, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 15:58.83
9. Lee Cheng Ang, Broadrick Secondary – 15:58.95
10. Mark Chia, Anglo-Chinese Secondary (Independent) Team 1 – 16:01.84
Team (Top-3 only)
1. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Team 1 – 30
2. Victoria School Team A – 41
3. Catholic High – 62
Girls’ Under-14
Individual (Top-10 only)
1. Su Zann, River Valley High Team 1 – 18:10.31
2. Quah Yan Ting Valencia, River Valley High Team 1 – 18:23.20
3. Sharyl Quek, River Valley High Team 1 – 18:35.48
4. Nicole Lum, Singapore Sports School – 18:35.63
5. Heather Hong, River Valley High Team 1 – 18:47.85
6. Carys Hor Kar Yin, Nanyang Girls’ High – 18:50.23
7. Lok Xin Ying, Cedar Girls’ Secondary – 18:54.22
8. Thaddea Chua, River Valley High – 19:00.52
9. Valerie Oh, Cedar Girls’ Secondary – 19:00.95
10. Mary-Lisa Zhi-Hui Chua, Raffles Girls’ School – 19:05.08
Team (Top-3 only)
1. River Valley High – 11
2. Cedar Girls’ Secondary – 55
3. CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School – 59
For the full results, please refer to the Wings Athletics Club website.
@Romaine – Like what? Heh.
Ehh colin, don’t like that leh! Haha! :p ?????????! :s
@sanya – She’s Anna Thompson. Has represented Australia at the World Championships for both cross-country and road-running, Commonwealth Games and other major international competitions. She has been based in Singapore for awhile. Heard that she’s leaving soon though. For Singapore to have been graced by such a fantastic runner, we should have done a lot more to extract from her knowledge and experiences to raise the standard of running here. We wish Anna all the best at the upcoming World Cross-Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland!
wah, whose that angmoh chick run with men and beat almost all of them? she a kickass runner lol. i did a google search and found out she recently ran in fukuoka japan national women’s cross country champs for 6km and ran a crazy 20mins
@Les, here’s the local swim calendar:
http://www.swimming.org.sg/calendar.html
Fyi, 41st National Age Group Swimming Championships 2010 are held at the Singapore Sports School
Juniors (8-12yrs): 12-13 March
Seniors (13yr and above): 17-21 March
Performances used to select swimmers for YOG, Asian Games, FINA/ARENA World Cup, Commonwealth Games…
@Yvonne: Thanks, Yvonne. We’ll pass the word around to the volunteers and let’s hope someone can make it! 😉
If you know anyone who is interested in writing about swimming stories, let them know they can submit stories at:
http://redsports.sg/tell-your-story/
Thanks
😉
@fan – Haha, what about the Mok siblings?
whoa the soh family cannot be stopped! windrider soh rui yong and his sister romaine soh are unbeatable!
great article colin, nice coverage
i love the captions on ruiyong’s photo
Nice story and great pix! Thanks again, redsports, for cool coverage of local sports. Puh-leese could we have some of your excellent reporters/photographers at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships starting next week?
@Yvonne: Colin and Marvin will be most pleased with your appreciative comments.
Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships?
Where? Dates? Times? We don’t know the details.
‘yellow, yellow, dirty fellow’ is the theme for the writer of this article, it seems, judging from the contrast between the chocolate of his tan and the neon of his outfit and shoes.
@Uncle Les – Haha, thanks. I’m not sure if you should be keen to implement that new standard. Heh. If you do, I think our crew numbers will start dwindling. Aiya anyway they do enough running about at events lah. Just don’t “Botak Jones” more than they burn can already. Haha.
@someone – Hi there, the results state ACS(I)’s Mark Chia as the tenth finisher. You know something I don’t? Care to enlighten? If you do, let us know then we can change it ;).
Maybe I should do a run down for photographers. Run 50m, shoot, run 30m, shoot, run 100m, shoot.
After 1km of running and shooting, let’s see whose pics are still sharp at the end.
😉
whoa, U.les thats a very interesting challenge 🙂
10th for u14 boys should be jeremy lim tze en acs(i)
NICE ONE RV! 😀
Running from the start point to finish line was a challenge enough for me.=p
Nice one Colin! Run a race, write a story.
Maybe that will be the new standard for Red Crew. 😉