By Elvin Liang

yellow ribbon run

Vivian Tang came in tops in the 10km race with a time of 40:11. (Photo 1 © M. Chandran/Red Sports)

Changi Prison, Sunday, September 15, 2013 – The spotlight was on Singaporean veteran, Vivan Tang, 43, who hit the finish tape in 40 minutes 11 seconds to win the women’s 10km race at the Yellow Ribbon Run. Finishing the race in second place was Kenyan Caroline Kigen with a time of 40:52.

Vanja Cnops, who clocked 41:25s to finish third, recently finished second in the Tri-factor Triathlon and in the Race Against Cancer Run.

Kenyans Mourice Mutinda, Geoffrey Birgen and Hillary Korir swept the top three positions in the men’s 10km race with timings of 32:20, 34:03 and 34:48 respectively.

“The challenging part of this race was the many slopes and undulating hills. It has to be one of the hilliest races by far,” said Vivian Tang.

Cnops also confirmed the challenge of the route. “This race had many slopes. It was quite different from the routes I train on.”

The 10km run, flagged off at 7.45am by the deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean, saw runners start the race on the open field along Farnborough Road at Changi Village. Runners had to conquer long bends, sloping uphill and downhill gradients throughout the route, before finishing the race within the prison walls.

“This was the second time I’m participating in the run, so I was mentally prepared,” said Vivian, a remisier. “I just ran at a comfortable pace. I did not increase my pace downhill because, when there is a downhill, there is surely an uphill coming up!”

“The Kenyan lady was leading for the first 7km, after that I overtook her and kept my pace. It was a good run. The weather was cool and towards the last 2km of the race, there was some cloud cover, so it was really good. There were also volunteers who cheered us on with sounds from garbage cans,” said Vivian with a laugh.

The Yellow Ribbon Run is an initiative of the Yellow Ribbon Project which helps to give ex-offenders a second chance.

“I believe the run has a positive impact on society towards the ex-convicts and even on those who are currently serving their sentence. When they see that their counterparts are doing well in society after (their) release, it will encourage them to keep pushing on to be better people,” said Vivian.

“Everybody makes mistakes. They deserve a second chance and a new lease of life. It’s something like running, it’s a struggle. So we all have to keep training and keep on pushing,” added Vivian.

“Sundown is a different run altogether. The runners are probably still running now from 6pm yesterday evening. Even the shortest distance available is 25km. That is too crazy for me!” said Vivian, when asked why she chose the Yellow Ribbon Run over the Sundown Ultra Marathon.

Vivian’s next run is the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon in December. This will be the fifth year in a row that she is taking part in the race.

10km Male Category (Gun Time)
1st Mourice Mutinda (#12455) – 32:20.38
2nd Geoffrey Birgen (#12165) – 34:03.65
3rd Hillary Korir (#12453) – 34:48.15
4th Dev Kumar Rai (#11001) – 35:49.85
5th Umesh Rai (#11314) – 35:49.85
6th Stuart Haynes (#10902) – 36:03.84
7th Jagat Bahadur Magar (#10639) – 36:26.30
8th Hangpal Angbuhang (#11317) – 36:37.09
9th Deman Purja (#11319) – 37:02.84
10th Laxmi Kumar Limbu (#11316) – 37:06.34

10km Female Category (Gun Time)
1st Vivian Tang (#15821) – 40:11.34
2nd Caroline Kigen (#16598) – 40:52.35
3rd Vanja Cnops (#16038) – 41:25.35
4th Lim Sing Yi (#16468) – 45:00.10
5th Ann Marie Ware (#15335) – 45:13.60
6th Pamela Kustas (#16637) – 48:15.84
7th Lois Ser (#15928) – 48:38.84
8th Gina Tan (#16134) – 49:04.10
9th Trish Tan (#16235) – 49:33.09
10th Bee Teng Ng (#17312) – 49:54.59

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