Mok Ying Ren and Trudy Fawcett defend titles at Singapore Biathlon

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

East Coast Park, Saturday, March 13, 2010 – Defending champions Mok Ying Ren and Trudy Fawcett swept a field of 2,310 biathletes to retain their titles at the 2010 Singapore Biathlon.

Singapore's top endurance athlete Mok Ying Ren won in 55 minutes 38 seconds in the Men's Open while in the Women's Open, Trudy Fawcett finished first in 1:05:41, bettering her time of 1:07:14 in last year's race.

"I am very happy with my time this year," said a visibly pleased Mok Ying Ren. "I just came back from a training camp in Cameroon Highlands and I was tired throughout the week. I was hoping to recover in time for today. Also, I have not been working on my swim so I trained with the NUS biathlon team and I think it all pieced well together."

"This year was my personal best 10k timing [on the run] and I am very happy with it! Swimming was the biggest challenge for me because I have not been training. In fact, the last time I did a biathlon was last year's Singapore Biathlon."

Mok also shared which race he will be concentrating on during the year, "For now, I'll focus on defending my title in the Singapore Marathon."

After finishing second to Mok in the Men’s Open last year, Lim Zhi Ming had to settle for second yet again with a time of 59:46. Ben Pulham finished third in 1:02:41.

Mok had some encouraging words for Lim, who studies at Raffles Institution and is part of the cross-country team there as well, saying: "He is very brave for taking on the men although he qualifies for the Youth category!"

A new introduction to this year’s race was the Youth Challenge Awards where participants aged 15-20 years old vie for top honours. Joash Chong took home gold in the Men’s Youth Challenge with a time of 1:05:57 while Debbie Ho Min won the Women’s Youth Challenge in 1:11:34.

In the Women's Open, Trudy Fawcett showed why she is the top female biathlete with a strong performance in the swim and the run. Jocelyn Chan came in second with a time of 1:08:26 while Angie Tan finished in 1:10:24 for a third-placed finish.

"It was a really good race and this is one of my favourites!" said Trudy Fawcett, who has finished first in all three times she participated in the Singapore Biathlon. "The biggest challenge for me was pushing myself when there were no girls around me – I was out there on my own! It would have been fabulous to start with the boys so that someone can push me."

Singapore Biathlon Results

Men's Open
1st Mok Ying Ren 00:55:38
2nd Lim Zhi Ming 00:59:46
3rd Ben Pulham 01:02:41

Women's Open
1st Trudy Fawcett 01:05:41
2nd Chan Siew Mei Jocelyn 01:08:26
3rd Tan Si Qi Angie 01:10:24

Men's Veteran
1st Selukov 01:06:52
2nd Andy Martin 01:09:11
3rd Simon Lu 01:11:48

Women's Veteran
1st Mandy Neil 01:16:54
2nd Tracy Quin 01:22:24
3rd Adriaens Saskia 01:23:06

Men's Youth Challenge
1st Joash Chong Jing Xiong 01:05:57
2nd Aldrich Lim Jing Hong 01:06:05
3rd Loh Lianhan 01:08:06

Women's Youth Challenge
1st Debbie Ho Min 01:11:34
2nd Christine Boo Xiao Ying 01:17:15
3rd Goh Yan Ling 01:30:48

Download full results of Men’s Open here
Download full results of Women’s Open here
Download full results of Men’s Veteran here
Download full results of Women’s Veteran here
Download full results of Men’s Youth here
Download full results of Women’s Youth here
Download full results of SAF Invitation Team here

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