B Div 1,500m (Boys): Dhashman of Regent wins second gold in 4:19

By Romaine Soh/Red Sports

Dhashman Thangavelu (#572) of Regent on his way to winning the B Div 1,500m final in 4:19.53. Shohib B Abdul Wahab Marican (#289) was second in 4:22.10 when he outsprinted Keith Yong (#102) of Sports School who finished third in 4:22.14. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Wednesday, April 17, 2013 — Dhashman Thangavelu of Regent Secondary ended off his season with a bang when he won the the B Division 1,500 metres gold at the 54th National Schools Track and Field Championships in a time of 4 minutes 19 seconds.

He first hit the headlines when he won the 800m last week.

Shohib Marican of Raffles Institution (RI) pipped Keith Yong of Singapore Sports School to the line for silver. Shohib stopped the clock at 4:22.10, just 0.04s ahead of Keith’s time of 4:22.14.

Keith had taken the lead from the start, with Shohib and Abdul Riyaz of St Andrew’s Secondary settling in behind him. However, Shohib soon tired of the pace, and took the initiative 250m into the race. The first lap was completed in 70s.

In the second lap, there was a reshuffle among the front pack, as Dhashman and Riyaz made their way up the field to assume the lead. Keith maintained his pace, settling into sixth place as RI’s Mohamed Imran and Hwa Chong’s Dai Nan Tian made their move to stick with the race leaders.

As the bell sounded the final lap, Dhashman and Shohib pulled away and widened the gap between themselves and Nan Tian and Riyaz.

While Shohib was busy hunting down Dhashman, Keith snuck up from behind to overtake Nan Tian at the final 200m, prompting Riyaz to join him in the sprint finish. However, Keith’s kick was much stronger, allowing him to propel away from Riyaz.

By now, Dhashman had built a gap that was not to be closed in the final 100m, safely securing the gold for himself. The race was now on between Shohib and Keith, who were both running their hearts out down the home straight, the roar of their supporters egging them on. Despite Keith’s valiant efforts, he lost out on the silver by a sliver of a second.

“My plan was to go below 4:20, and since I managed to do it, I’m quite happy with my performance!” Dhashman beamed.

“I was quite confident of my speed, so I simply went at my own pace, and turned the heat on at the last lap,” he said of his race plan.

“Since this is my last season, I’m proud of myself for being able to end it off well, with two golds to my name!”

B Division Boys 1,500m Results
1st Dhashman Thangavelu (Regent Sec, #572) — 04:19.53
2nd Shohib B Abdul Wahab Marican (Raffles Institution, #289) — 04:22.10
3rd Keith Yong Sheng Wei (Singapore Sports Sch, #102) — 04:22.14
4th Abdul Riyaz (St Andrew’s Sec, #300) — 04:24.62
5th Ng Guan Zhi (St Joseph’s Institution, #328) — 04:28.19
6th Dai Nan Tian (Hwa Chong Institution, #515) — 04:28.34
7th Mohamed Imran Jashirudeen (Raffles Institution, #282) — 04:30.28
8th Paul Simmy (Anglo Chinese Sch (Independent), #147) — 04:31.74
9th Dylan Tan Yong Jin (Hwa Chong Institution, #518) — 04:32.19
10th Tan Yu Xiang (Hwa Chong Institution, #549) — 04:32.55
11th Ong Yao Jie (Queenstown Sec, #248) — 04:32.70
12th Justin Thong Yu Wen (Victoria Sch, #468) — 04:33.32
13th Lim Wei Qian, Willy (Raffles Institution, #278) — 04:34.58
14th Sean Chua Chi Hin (Singapore Sports Sch, #111) — 04:39.14
15th Lester Pung Chee Yong (North Vista Sec, #67) — 04:41.62
16th S Murugananthan (Woodlands Sec, #120) — 04:47.91