Story by Nicole Lum/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck, Lee Jian Wei and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Nicole Low (#133) of Victoria Junior College in action. She clocked a timing of 11:09.97 to clinch the gold medal. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
Bukit Gombak Stadium, Tuesday, April 14, 2015 — Nicole Low of Victoria Junior College (VJC) blazed past her competition at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships to clinch the gold medal. She crossed the finish line in 11 minutes and 9.97 seconds – 10.76 seconds short of the meet record – in the A Division girls’ 3000m event.
The 18-year-old took home the champion’s trophy three weeks ago at her debut in the 56th National Inter-School Cross Country Championships.
Three weeks later, she repeated the feat, this time, winning the gold in her maiden National Inter-School Track and Field outing.
Nicole established an impressive lead early in the race while teammate Vanessa Lee followed closely behind. A considerable distance behind them, and leading the rest of the runners, was Raffles Institution’s Nah Yi Xin.
Nicole was in a league of her own as she pulled away with less than a kilometre to go, eventually finishing 80m ahead of second-placer Vanessa who ran 11:21.26. The bronze medal went to Yi Xin, last year’s B Division girls’ 3000m champion, who crossed the finish line in 11:37.70.
Despite her stellar performance, Nicole was not satisfied.
“I was aiming to break the meet record, but I didn’t perform today,” she explained.
The electronically-timed record stands at 10:59.21, set by Hwa Chong Junior College alumna Pamela Chia, in 2003. Zhang Cuiying, then of Raffles Junior College, set the hand-timed record of 10:34.60 in 1991.
Ever since she started taking part in cross country and track and field competitions this year, Nicole has been achieving a series of successes one after another.
“It’s both a good and bad thing. I’ve only been getting first but I haven’t experienced getting beaten yet,” she mentioned.
“That makes me quite worried for the 1500m as I will be facing strong competitors like defending champion Carys Hor.”
Silver medalist, Vanessa, was equally disappointed. “I didn’t perform my best. I was trying to keep up with Nicole but I lost her at the end of the race,” she said. Vanessa also came in second at the recent National Inter-School Cross Country Championships.
The VJC schoolgirl will next take part in the 2000m steeplechase event. As she has yet to try the water jump, she expressed her worry for the event. “But I am still aiming to break the meet record,” she concluded, casting her concern aside.
A Division 3000m (Girls) Results
1st: Nicole Low Sui Xuan (#133, Victoria Junior College) – 11:09.97
2nd: Vanessa Lee Ying Zhuang (#140, Victoria Junior College) – 11:21.26
3rd: Nah Yi Xin (#92, Raffles Institution) – 11:37.70
4th: Lok Xin Ying (#130, Victoria Junior College) – 11:50.83
5th: Tan Yi-Qin, Edina (#100, Raffles Institution) – 12:11.15
6th: Awe Wan Qi, Valencia (#59, National Junior College) – 12:38.16
7th: Lin Yuxin, Kathleen (#193, Hwa Chong Institution) – 12:55.18
8th: Fong Kar Yan, Vanessa (#211, Pioneer Junior College) – 13:02.43
9th: Crystabelle Wang Jia Yu (#181, Hwa Chong Institution) – 13:11.70
10th: Tay Min Hui Jolene (#67, National Junior College) – 13:18.25
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