Story by Carissa Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Lee Jian Wei, Lim Yong Teck and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Shohib Marican (#156) of Raffles Institution in action. He clocked a time of 4:18.56 minutes to clinch the gold medal. (Photo 1 © Lee Jian Wei/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Wednesday, April 22, 2015 — Raffles Institution’s Shohib Marican won his second straight A Division boys’ 1500m title when he clocked 4 minutes and 18.56 seconds at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships.
Last year, he led RI to a podium sweep. However, this year, their attempt to repeat the feat was foiled by Victoria Junior College’s Glen Brian Palmer, who finished in third place with a timing of 4:23.95. Larry Law of RI clinched the silver with a timing of 4:23.29.
Shohib led from the start while Glen Palmer and Paxton Hong of VJC trailed 5 metres behind, along with the rest of the pack. Shohib continued to widen the lead in the second round. His teammates, Larry Law and Chester Lee, followed his lead and overtook Glen and Paxton.
By the third lap, Shohib sprinted ahead to establish a 15m lead and eventually finished almost five seconds ahead of his teammate, Larry.
“I just tried to set a good pace for myself. In the end, the timing was ok,” said Shohib.
About his running experience, Shohib commented, “In Primary 6, my primary school coach asked me to run. I was actually playing football in primary school but he just asked me to try running as a way to build some self-esteem. Coach just asked me to try it out because he was relief-teaching our class. In primary six, I was actually quite bad. I didn’t even make the semi-finals or the finals.”
For Shohib, this is his second year getting a treble. He had also won the 5000m and the cross country titles prior to the 1500m final.
He added, “I’m actually quite happy I got to retain my titles but I think the happier thing is that I got to do it with my team again. The best part of cross country has to be the team, the coaches and the teachers. It really is about the people inside. My friend (Larry) here has been training six long years and he finally got his medal. That’s the happiest thing today.”
About his race, Larry Law, quipped, “I’m very happy. The plan was to set a fast race. Chester and I decided to up the pace in the second or third part and we did. But, the other schools put up a very strong fight so it really boiled down to the last lap. The race was almost perfect for me.”
This is Larry’s first silver medal in six years. With this win, he and Shohib conclude their season on a high.
A Div 1500m Results
1st Shohib B Abdul Wahab Marican (#156, Raffles Institution) – 4:18.56
2nd Law Ann Liat, Larry (#144, Raffles Institution) – 4:23.29
3rd Glen Brian Palmer (#195, Victoria Junior College) – 4:23.95
4th Lee Zhong Kian, Chester (#147, Raffles Institution) – 4:29.09
5th Aaron Lee Tian En (#84, Catholic Junior College) – 4:31.51
6th Dai Nan Tian (#251, Hwa Chong Institution) – 4:31.75
7th Ng Guan Zhi (#272, Hwa Chong Institution) – 4:31.79
8th Tan Yong Jin, Dylan (#282, Hwa Chong Institution) – 4:32.79
9th Lee Zhen Yu, Edward (#200, Victoria Junior College) – 4:33.00
10th Paxton Hong Kar Jun (#204, Victoria Junior College) – 4:33.36
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