Cross Country: RI clinch third A Girls’ team title in a row while Qua Bi Qi of HCI shocks favourites to win individual crown

By REDintern Soh Rui Yong. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

Bedok Reservoir Park, Wednesday, March 23, 2011 — The Raffles Institution A Division girls finished with four runners in the top 10 to claim their third successive championship title, while Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) turned in a fine performance to edge out Victoria Junior College (VJC) to the silver medals by four points at the 52nd National Schools Cross Country Championships.

Prior to the race, the Raffles girls had firmly established themselves as the team to beat. The team finished as champions at both the Singapore Athletics Association (SAA) Cross Country and Wings Cross Country meets, held in January and February respectively, and they had the 2010 defending champion Mok Ying Rong in their ranks.

Mok, however, had sustained a bad shin injury two weeks prior to the nationals, which left her unable to even jog without gritting her teeth in pain. Despite this setback, Mok made a valiant attempt to defend her title, surging into the lead soon after the start and attempting to run her usual hard, aggressive race, pushing the pace in an attempt to shake off her competitors. Unfortunately for her, the pain in her shin took a turn for the worse close to the half-way point of the 4.1-km route, and she was forced to ease off as the pain became increasingly worse.

With Mok’s misfortune removing her from contention, her Raffles teammate, Wan Zahrah, took over the lead. She proceeded to put in a fresh injection of speed to the race which whittled the lead pack down to two — Zahrah, and a new face on the cross country scene, Qua Bi Qi, a canoeist who had been roped in to help with Hwa Chong Institution’s cross country team.

Bi Qi stuck close to Zahrah as the latter continued to set the pace for the next one and a half kilometres. As the pair approached the canoeing shed, approximately 500m from the finishing line, they ran past Hwa Chong’s coach, Mr Rameshon. The sight of her coach and his words of encouragement must have ignited something within Bi Qi, for she quickly drew level with Zahrah, and went into the lead for the first time in the whole race shortly before the metal bridge connecting Bedok Reservoir to Temasek Polytechnic, approximately 250m from the end.

Bi Qi’s finishing sprint allowed her to widen her gap over the Rafflesian in the closing stages of the race and cap off an unbelievable debut, stopping the clock at 16min and 42sec, with Zahrah coming in 10 seconds later in 16:52. Belle Tan of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) meanwhile, had run a great race herself, and came in soon after with a time of 17:00 to round off the top three.

When asked how she managed to pull off her incredible debut, Bi Qi shared: “I had to juggle between canoeing and cross country training in the lead-up to this competition, and had little race experience as this is my first season competing in cross country. My training consisted mostly of canoeing training, and I only managed to join my school’s cross country team for a few sessions.

“Thus, though I was fit, I was unsure of what to expect on a big stage like the national schools championships, and hardly expected to come in first, especially with established long-distance athlete Mok Ying Rong in the race.”

“My race plan was just to stick close to the leaders and see how far I could keep up with them. It was tough and I thought that I would burn out, but thankfully I managed to hang on until the last portion of the race, where I surged into the lead and held it to the end.”

“I would like to thank my canoeing teacher I/C, Mr Quek Wee Tong and cross country coach, Mr Rameshon, for training me well and guiding me to this achievement. They have inspired me to continue running after my competitive days in the national schools championships are over.”

Asked if she would be taking part at the national track and field championships next month, Bi Qi replied: “It is unlikely that I will take part in the track and field championships as the national schools canoeing championships will be held around that same period of time. Canoeing is still my first sport and my top priority.”

“However, Mr Quek and Mr Ram have inspired me to continue running after my competitive days in the nationals schools championships are over, and I aim to integrate running into part of my daily lifestyle. I will probably train for and take part in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon at the end of the year just for fun!”

Runner-up Zahrah also gave us her take on how things unfolded in the race, saying, “I was running in third place behind Ying Rong and Romaine Soh of Victoria Junior College (VJC), until the U-turn at the halfway point of the race. Sensing then that Ying Rong was not running up to her usual high standards, I took over the lead from her to set a faster pace.”

“I did not realise that Bi Qi was so close behind me until I heard Mr Ram cheering for her as we approached the canoeing shed. I tried to increase my pace but she overtook me before the bridge, and though I pushed hard for a response, her finishing sprint was just too fast.”

Zahrah’s silver medal though, was a great accomplishment in itself, and a vast improvement from her sixth-place finish last year. Her parents were there to support her on her big day, and Zahrah’s father was on hand to share his delight at his daughter’s achievement.

“Her months of hard training paid off. She gave her best for her team and herself. We are very proud of her. Success doesn’t come without hard work and perseverance,” said Mr Ahmad Alif Lim.

Despite Mok’s injury, the Raffles girls were never in danger of losing their title, as the rest of the team raised their game, with Berenice Lian, Seow Yun Yun, Melinda Chan and Clara Poon finishing 5th, 8th, 9th and 13th respectively. Their top four runners scored a total of 24 points to finish 13 points clear of runners-up ACJC. Team scores are calculated by adding up the individual positions of the first four runners, and the team with the lowest score is declared the winner.

Berenice credited the team’s victory to coach Mr Steven Quek, saying, “I’m really thankful to our coach Mr Quek, whose knowledge and advice has helped us greatly throughout the season.”

“I’m also very grateful to my parents for their unceasing support and encouragement, without which none of this would have been possible.”

Mok meanwhile, displayed a positive, never-say-die attitude, running on despite the raging pain in her shin and finishing the race in 17th position.

VJC, consisting mainly of “part-time” cross country runners and considered to be the main threat to the Raffles girls before the race, turned in a respectable team performance, with all six runners finishing in the top 20. However, they had to be satisfied with third-place after an inspired performance from the ACJC girls.

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