Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports
Joshua Chua (#273, RI) won gold in a new record time of 10.87s. David Tameeris (#167, ACSI) was second in 11.13s while Marcell Tan (#132, SSP) was third in 11.17s. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
National Stadium, Friday, April 29, 2016 — Joshua Chua of Raffles Institution (RI) tore up the track at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships, setting a new championship record of 10.87 seconds in the B Division boys’ 100 metres final.
His timing went under the previous electronically-timed (ET) mark of 10.90s, set by Singapore Sports School (SSP) alumnus Shahrir Mohd Anuar in 2009. The hand-timed record of 10.8s was set by Hong Jinsheng, then of Jin Tai Secondary, in 1985. Hand-timed performances are typically converted to ET by adding 0.24s, for events below 400m.
David Tameeris of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) finished second in 11.13s while Marcell Tan of SSP was third in 11.17s.
The top three all finished with faster timings than that clocked by the A Division boys’ 100m champion, Catholic Junior College’s Shahmee Ruzain (11.22s). This is the first time that the top three runners in the B boys’ 100m have timed faster than the A Division winner, in the last 29 years at least. Full results for the years before 1988 are not available.
Going into the final, Marcell had a personal best of 11.18s clocked at the Singapore Athletics Series 2 in February, while Joshua and David ran personal bests of 11.00s and 11.16s respectively in the semi-finals of these championships the previous week. Moreover, earlier in the meet, Marcell had beaten Joshua in the 110m hurdles final.
It all pointed to an exhilarating finish in the century sprint final.
With 13,000 spectators watching with bated breath at the National Stadium, Joshua was quickest out of the blocks. In spite of his comparably smaller frame amongst the finalists, his incredible leg frequency saw him maintain his lead until the finish – at least 0.2 seconds ahead of his rivals and with a new record to boot.
Remarkably, he ran against head wind – the wind gauge readings indicating a -0.1 metres per second wind speed – during the race.
This was only Joshua’s second National Schools 100m victory, adding to his C Division gold two years ago in 11.66s. The previous year, he had only finished sixth (11.99s) in the same division. Last year in the B Division, he had taken part in the 110m and 400m hurdles events.
“I feel very, very happy and I feel that it was a good race. Although I didn’t have the best of starts, thankfully I got into the running groove at the 40m mark and I guess it really was just a fight to the end,” said Joshua of his record-breaking run.
“I was shocked honestly because this is my first time subbing 11s and I was just glad things turned out the way it did,” he added, on what went through his mind when he saw his timing flash across the big screen.
Joshua is only the fourth runner in the B Division to dip below 11 seconds in the century sprint, since ET was introduced in 1995. Apart from Joshua and Shahrir, the others are Aaron Huang (10.97s, 1997) and Poh Seng Song (10.99s, 1999).
When asked if getting the better of Marcell was one of his motivations prior to the final, Joshua said, “Beating Marcell was never my motive or goal. I told myself that all I wanted was to run for God and to bring glory to His name, to the school, my teammates, loved ones and my coaches.
“I determined from the start that I just needed to give my best and focus on the race and that God will take care of the results. But definitely, Marcell and David – in fact all 7 of them – really pushed me and this definitely wouldn’t have been possible without them.”
Acknowledging those who have helped him, he said, “I’d like to thank my coach, Mr Melvin Tan, teachers, Mr Vincent Quek, teammates, friends and loved ones. Not forgetting a great friend and training companion, Hariz Darajit, for always being my benchmark in training and pushing me on.”
Hariz himself was part of a nine-man Singapore Selection team that took to the same track a day earlier in the 100m heats at the 78th Singapore Open Championships. Joshua’s 10.87s trumped all but three of them.
Joshua later ran the anchor leg for his RI team in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, where they finished in third and fifth respectively. For the 4x100m relay, Joshua had received the baton in fourth place before outsprinting his Hwa Chong Institution counterpart to snatch the bronze.
On the relays, Joshua said, “We didn’t do too well results-wise but we gave it our all and we really fought for each other. I think the bonds and friendship we created was the biggest takeaway.”
B Division Boys’ 100m – Top 8
1st Joshua Chua Hanwei (#273, Raffles Institution) — 10.87 seconds (New CR)
2nd David Tameeris (#167, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 11.13
3rd Marcell Tan Yann Guang (#132, Singapore Sports School) — 11.17
4th Chong Wei Guan (#123, Singapore Sports School) — 11.36
5th Koh Ching Hui, Nicholas (#356, Changkat Changi Secondary) — 11.44
6th Ng Zheng Jie Bryan (#555, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.50
7th Hoh Jun De (#469, Victoria School) — 11.51
8th Hong Wen-Kai (#542, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.55
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