B Div 3,000m: Leroi Lee of Nan Hua High holds off RI’s Shohib to win gold by 0.49s

Leroi Lee (#566) of Nan Hua High glances over his shoulder to see where Shohib bin Abdul Wahab Marican is. Leroi finished first in 9:39.51 while Shohib finished just 0.49s behind in second. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Monday, April 8, 2013 — Leroi Lee of Nan Hua High led from start to finish to win the B Division 3,000m gold at the 54th National Schools Track and Field Championships.

Leroi stopped the clock at 9 minutes 39.51 seconds. Shohib bin Abdul Wahab Marican of Raffles Institution (RI) put in a strong finishing kick to catch Leroi but finished just 0.49 seconds behind in second place. Mohamed Imran Jashirudeen, also of RI, was third in 9:44.76.

“He had a very good kick. I could hear his footsteps,” recounted Leroi, referring to Shohib’s challenge down the finishing straight.

This is Leroi’s second title win this year, after having won the B Division cross country title earlier in the season. He was in line for the 1,500m title too, but a fever messed up his plans.

“I ran the 3k heats on Thursday (April 4) and then I was supposed to have the 1,500 heats on Friday (April 5) but then I fell sick. Got a fever, then I missed it. I wish I could have tried but I didn’t want to put my body at risk because I still had a 3k final. I was quite sad because I think I could have won the 1,500, too. So I just focused on the 3k but I still had fever (38.2 degrees) all the way until yesterday (Sunday, April 7),” said Leroi.

With only one track title to shoot for, Leroi gave it his all.

“That was the plan. I had nothing to lose, so I just led all the way. I wanted to run a bit faster but this is a good time. I am very happy with it,” said Leroi.

Jeffrey Ng Zhao Hong, then of Chinese High School, set the electronically-timed record of 9:21.26 in 2003. Sergit Singh of Dunearn Technical set the hand-timed record of 9:02.60 in 1969.

B Division Boys 3,000m Results
1st Leroi Lee Rong Zu (#566, Nan Hua High) – 09:39.51
2nd Shohib B Abdul Wahab Marican (#289, Raffles) – 09:40.00
3rd Mohamed Imran Jashirudeen (#282, Raffles) – 09:44.76
4th Thineshwaran S/O Krishnakumar (#163, Bendemeer) – 09:49.82
5th Keith Yong Sheng Wei (#102, Sports School) – 09:51.34
6th Tan Chong Qi (#290, Raffles) – 10:00.81
7th Lee Zhen Yu, Edward (#323, St. Joseph’s) – 10:07.56
8th Sharwin S/O Givakumar (#122, Woodlands) – 10:09.57
9th Leong Wei Jie Aloysius (#324, St. Joseph’s) – 10:20.72
10th Lester Pung Chee Yong (#67, North Vista) – 10:24.19
11th Muhamad Arif B Jamaluddin (#351, Broadrick) – 10:25.60
12th Ong Yao Jie (#248, Queenstown) – 10:26.25
13th Glen Brian Palmer (#320, St. Joseph’s) – 10:29.97
14th Lim Xi Chen Terry (#52, Maris Stella High) – 10:31.07
15th Daniel Yeo (#463, Victoria) – 10:31.09
16th Joel Koh (#525, HCI) – 10:49.57