By Goh Eng Wei
Name: Goh Eng Wei
University: National University of Singapore
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 70kg
Events: 400m, 4x400m
Personal Bests: 49.83 seconds (2012 Perak Open), NA
(Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Ed’s note: Goh Eng Wei of the National University of Singapore is a 400-metre runner who was part of the Singapore team that took part in the ASEAN University Games held in Vientiane, Laos, in Dec. 2012. He ran in the 400m and 4x400m relay races. He shares with us a first-hand account of his experience.
The bi-annual 2012 ASEAN University Games was an eye-opening and humbling personal experience firmly etched in my memory. This was only my fourth instance representing our island nation at the international level.
The accommodation venue was amazing and comfortable, with Laos having played hosts to athletes in a SEA Games a few years before. Opportunities for international interaction were aplenty, with lively activities lined up each night during the meet duration to encourage an ASEAN regional spirit.
The 400-metre sprint itself is a mere round of the eight-lane track that is over in the blink of an eye. Once the gun goes, it is just about doing everything correctly at the right time as planned. Most of the work is done before the starting blocks, in the preparations on the warm up track, taking in the sight of fellow competitors and the managing the tense atmosphere of nerves and anticipation.
During my final warm up process right before the race, I found it really interesting how every one of my competitors was exuding a confident exterior that masked an underlying sense of nervousness. I found myself inadvertently glancing towards them periodically, and whenever eye contact was established, we mutually followed it up with a feeble smile of respectful acknowledgement. These minute interactions helped refocus my purpose, and made me pay extra attention to how my body was reacting with each stretch and drill I carried out with the sole aim of preparing my body for the imminent race.
The call room is the penultimate venue where emotions and thoughts are magnified and heightened just before the race, with athletes in close proximity with each other, friendly exchanges of handshakes and smiles coupled with the occasional nervy glances across shoulders. The familiar call of tag numbers and lane allocations are part of the intricate build up process before the final walk to the blocks.
Focus was necessary as utmost concentration is pivotal in visualizing my race at every stage, personal reminders on immaculate technique requirements and confidence, simply believing in my training and ability to rise to the occasion and perform. Nerves and creeping uncertainty are part and parcel of every pre-race, but it also showed how much the impending event really meant to me.
Entering the call room conjured immense nerves within me and I found myself absorbed with self-visualizations, so much so that I failed to notice that two of my competitors had already taken their place beside the seat I distractedly plonked myself in moments before them. The smell of deep heat permeated the humid room filled with a flurry of activity as athletes registered with the local staff. It was at this moment that an overwhelming wave of calmness swept through me, removing the tense nervousness that had been dictating my thoughts and tentative behaviour for the past 30 minutes. It dawned on me that the much-anticipated race was going to happen in a moment and I was just raring to go and meet this challenge.
Different individuals practice differing pre-race rituals and I was no exception. After my customary friendly greetings with my competitors, I prefer to sit quietly for a moment or two to just visualize my race plan one final time before tuning back to reality and focusing on getting my mind active and ready for the moment.
It’s always mind over matter, they said. Self-control and awareness, in my opinion, should always be first and foremost in an athlete’s preparations.
The individual 400m event conjured excitement and also a great deal of nerves during the preparation process. A sleepless night before the race aside, uncertainty with my fitness level after a bout of dengue plagued me constantly leading up to the Games.
It was most unfortunate that I contracted the fever a mere month or so before the Games. I belittled the initial symptoms and cast off the illness as but a passing fever that possibly arose due to sleep deprivation amidst exam preparations. However, things got worse and I eventually was bedridden for a couple of days in the following week before recovering pretty swiftly. Chief among its afflictions was the irreparable damage to my sprint endurance as it essentially devastated my training efforts and cast my fitness back a couple of months. I felt momentarily dejected, but I wasn’t too fazed by it and worked hard to restore my fitness level as soon as possible after the bout of dengue.
Lining up and setting up my blocks, I repeatedly told myself to race without regrets. Going up against seasoned runners with SEA Games experience, I relished the starting gun to pit myself against these exponents. My personal best was 49.8 seconds set earlier in the year at the 2012 Perak Open, and my eventual time of 50.1s was personally a pretty decent performance despite failing to better my Perak performance. I do not attribute any blame to the illness but rather see it as an invaluable experience that will contribute to my race planning in future. I placed fifth and was roughly two seconds off the champion, Ariff Zulhimi Alet. The Malaysian won with a time of 48.16s and I personally thought that was a commendable feat for the 17-year-old Malaysian who was under intense competition from his compatriot Kannan and Thai rivals throughout the race.
In the 4x400m relay, I was raring to go for the team as the first runner. Having already cast aside edgy and jumpy emotions with my individual performance, the aim here was to attempt to establish an early lead and keep to my own race plan diligently with the team having drawn an outer lane.
I started off with too quick a pace that resulted in a premature lactic buildup. I tried my best to discipline myself to finish off as strongly as possible so as not to disappoint my fellow teammate Lance Tan who was waiting at the incoming passing zone for me.
What many 400m runners feel during the last stretch in the final 100 straight is lactic agony and fatigued limbs seemingly unable to move any quicker. What every 400m runner must know is that every other competitor alongside you is experiencing the exact same thing.
The first 300m flew by quickly in my eagerness to match my Indonesian rival in the outer lane. My lack of race discipline saw me struggle with my pace for the last 100m and I was constantly reminding myself the need to stabilize my core and relax my shoulders. I eventually passed the baton to Lance somewhere between fourth and fifth place, and the rest of the race saw my teammates – Lance Tan, Lee Cheng Wei, Gary Yeo – keep pace with the pack. Anchor runner Gary Yeo made a last-minute attempt to race down the Laos team to place us fourth overall after Philippines were disqualified for passing zone violations. Indonesia led from start to finish, with Malaysia breathing down their necks all the way to the dip at the finishing line.
Personally, it was a decent race, clocking a timing (50.0s) that was pretty close to my personal best. This served as emotional fuel and I relish the chance to better myself in my next race.
Participating in the 400m and 4x400m relay events was an invaluable and irreplaceable experience in my learning journey as an athlete. Meeting a field of talented individuals brimming with passion and hunger for success brought me to an elevated level of competition that supersedes our local scene. Such extensive exposure challenged me to break out of my previously entrenched boundaries and mindsets.
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