By REDintern Tay Jun Wen
Soh Hua Qun of NUS won gold in 4:11.51. (Photo 1 © Wayne Sim/ Red Sports)
ITE College East (Simei), Saturday, January 26, 2013 – Soh Hua Qun (#1178) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) won the 1500m race with a timing of 4 minutes 11.51 seconds at the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Track and Field Championships.
Second place went to Fang Jian Yong (#1285) from the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) with a time of 4:15.80 while third place was claimed by Tan Lui Ran (#1079) of Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) who stopped the clock at 4:16.21.
Once the starter’s gun was fired, Hua Qun took the lead and pulled away from the pack of runners. Jian Yong stayed close and the two of them were quite a distance away from the rest of the pack.
The gap between Hua Qun and Jian Yong started to widen as they approached the final lap. By that time, Adriel Tay (#1180) and Lui Ran were catching up with Jian Yong.
Jian Yong said: “I started off well but I faded off from my third lap onwards.”
Jian Yong was not satisfied with his performance because he did not reach his personal goal of 4:10. Jian Yong, who will face off with Hua Qun again in the 800m final next Saturday, February 2nd, was using this race as preparation for that final.
“I am using 1500m as an endurance base for my 800m,” added Jian Yong.
For Lui Ran, a shout from the crowd tipped him off to Jian Yong’s slowing pace.
“As I was about to start my final lap, I heard someone in the crowd shouting to me that the first two runners were slowing down,” said Lui Ran.
Lui Ran said he had a bad start as he was not feeling well before his warm-ups. Having competed in the 5000m and 10000m races in the Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Track and Field Championships, he has only spent three months training for the 1500m. He too had wanted to go below 4:10.
At the final bend, Adriel overtook Jian Yong but as they reached the final 100m stretch, Jian Yong and Lui Ran both overtook Adriel. A final sprint saw Jian Yong beat Lui Ran for second, with Hua Qun claiming gold.
“Although I did not see him, I heard that Adriel put up quite a good fight,” said Hua Qun, Adriel’s NUS teammate.
Hua Qun felt that it was a pretty good race but he could have been better. He admitted that he did not push himself in the last lap. The 21-year-old’s personal best is more than 10 seconds faster at 4:01.13, registered at last month’s ASEAN University Games in Laos.
1500m Final (Top 10)
1st Soh Hua Qun (#1178, National University of Singapore) – 4:11.51
2nd Fang Jian Yong (#1285, Singapore Institute of Management) – 4:15.08
3rd Tan Lui Ran (#1079, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – 4:16.21
4th Tay You Wei Adriel (#1180, National University of Singapore) – 4:17.99
5th Muhammad Shah Feroz (#1121, Nanyang Technological University) – 4:29.03
6th Lim Tien Aik Danny (#1289, Singapore Institute of Management) – 4:29.53
7th Lee Jansen (#1122, Nanyang Technological University) – 4:29.95
8th Sia Dewei Alvin (#1310, Singapore Management University) – 4:40.08
9th Neo Boon Kian (#1395, Temasek Polytechnic) – 4:43.15
10th Chia Zi Xuan (#1078, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – 4:44.39
