By REDintern Soh Rui Yong

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Friday, April 15, 2011 — Reigning A Division cross-country and 1500m champion Jeevaneesh S/O Soundararajah of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), came from behind in the final 50m to pip Raffles Institution’s Benjamin Amaldas Samynathan at the line, in what will certainly be an historic final that will live long in the minds of athletics fans.

Jeevan, as he is known to friends, posted a personal best time of 16 minutes 15.28 seconds, a mere 0.15 seconds faster than Benjamin’s 16:15.43.

Having lead from start to finish and shattered the national schools cross country course record last month, Jeevan looked to be the clear favourite in the 5000m final, and even had his sights set on breaking the electronically-timed (ET) championship record of 15:40.58, established by Darshananth S/O Jayaraman of Innova Junior College back in 2006. Benjamin however, running in his first ever track race since leaving the Raffles Guitar Ensemble last year to join the cross country team, had other ideas.

Jeevan started the race strongly, passing the first 400m in 68 seconds and the first one kilometre in 3:03, on pace for a 15:15 finishing time. This incredibly fast start to the race left the rest of the field reeling, with “Guitar Hero” Benjamin and Eugene Rodrigo of Victoria Junior College (VJC) the only two athletes anywhere near him.

However, the brutal pace soon began to take its toll on Jeevan, as he was forced to slow down and recover from his quick start. Benjamin, who had kept a safe distance away from the race leader up to this point, then began to make his move, steadily eating up the ground that separated the two athletes.

Benjamin eventually caught up with Jeevan at the 2.4km mark, which the duo crossed in 7:54. The Rafflesian then proceeded to shadow his opponent, waiting for a chance to make his move. Two laps later, Benjamin struck, moving smoothly into the lead and picking up the pace considerably which had been dawdling around 81-82 seconds.

Benjamin ran the next lap in 79 seconds, followed in quick succession by a pair of 78-second laps in an effort to pull away from Jeevan. However, the cross country champion had firmly attached himself to the back of Benjamin, and was not about to let his opponent get the better of him without a struggle.

With 600m to go, Benjamin stepped up the pace another gear, blazing the next lap in 73 seconds, but Jeevan was equal to his effort, stalking his challenger all the way. He then made a bid to take the lead with 200m left to go in the race, but Benjamin responded immediately, unleashing a 31-second final 200m in a last-ditch effort to defeat the mighty Jeevaneesh.

Entering the home straight, Benjamin appeared to have opened up a yard, and was in with a great chance of scoring a stunning upset. It was not to be however, as Jeevan dug deep into his reserves and summoned one final dramatic kick to the finish, catching Benjamin with 50m left to go and pulling away metres before the finish line. The two competitors had visibly given it their all for the race, as they embraced and acknowledged each other’s tremendous effort, before walking away from the track, still jelly-legged.

Eugene Rodrigo crossed the line almost 40 seconds later in 16:55.12 to bag the bronze medal, while Wilbert Ho, also of Raffles Institution, outsprinted road-race specialist Aldrich Lim of Catholic Junior College to take fourth place.

Zorndrix Dass of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Teng Jian Hong (HCI) and Yeo Si Heng (HCI) then finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively to round off the top eight.

The fierce duel by Jeevan and Benjamin lifted them into third and fourth respectively in the electronically-timed rankings, with only championship record holder Darshananth of IJC and previous record holder Ng Junwei of National Junior College (NJC), who clocked 16:15.12 in 2001, having run faster.

Results
A-Boys 5000 Metres Final
Pos Competitor Tag Sch Results Pts Status
1 Jeevaneesh S/O Soundararajah (275 HCI) — 16:15.28 9
2 Benjamin Amaldas Samynathan (129 RI) — 16:15.43 7
3 Eugene Cyril Rodrigo (211 VJC) — 16:55.12 6
4 Ho Hsien Hao Wilbert (142 RI) — 17:08.58 5
5 Aldrich Lim Jing Hong (78 CJC) — 17:13.09 4
6 Zorndrix Dass (268 ACJC) — 17:19.69 3
7 Teng Jian Hong (298 HCI) — 17:23.53 2
8 Yeo Si Heng (302 HCI) — 17:49.87 1
9 Norman Lai Jun Bin (310 JJC) — 18:01.97
10 Tay Yi Yan (160 RI) — 18:38.73
11 Chua Ying Zhi (237 ACJC) — 18:51.92
12 K Arjunan (34 SRJC) — 19:23.88
13 Lee Jin Sheng Dion (213 VJC) — 19:29.13
14 Teng Kok Long Albert (10 AJC) — 19:48.66
15 Teo Jun Hong Louis (226 VJC) — 19:53.98
16 Clement Tan Dingfei (80 CJC) — 19:55.29
17 Yap Yun Han (267 ACJC) — 20:05.20
18 Poh Khoon Sheng Eugene (92 CJC) — 20:08.69
19 Koh Geng Xiang Josiah (110 NJC) — 20:56.71
Samuel Lim Yong Sheng (195 TPJC) — DSQ
Lim Hong Yu (113 NJC) — DSQ
Marcus Teo Wei Ren (65 ACS(I)) — WDL
Sien G. Vanco (70 ACS(I)) — WDL
Sean Lim Yi Fang (69 ACS(I)) — WDL
Darren Ang Meng Hwee (105 NJC) — WDL
Woodford Travis Joshua (179 SPS) — WDL

Top 4 electronic timings recorded for A-Boys 5000m
15:40.58 – Darshananth S/O Jayaraman (IJC) in 2006
16:05.12 – Ng Junwei (NJC) in 2001
16:15.28 – Jeevaneesh S/O Soundararajah (HCI) in 2011
16:15.43 – Benjamin Amaldas Samynathan (RI) in 2011