By Carissa Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports
Vanessa Lee (#140) of Victoria Junior College in action. Despite a fall on her first water jump, she managed to clock a timing of 8:00.94 to set a new meet record. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
Bukit Gombak Stadium, Monday, April 20, 2015 — With a timing of 8 minutes and 0.94 seconds, Vanessa Lee (#140) of Victoria Junior College (VJC) topped the field to clinch her first A Division girls’ 2000m steeplechase title at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships.
Despite falling hard while attempting to clear the water obstacle on her first lap, Vanessa still managed to set not just a new meet record, but also a new national junior and youth best performance record.
She smashed the four-year-old meet record set by Raffles Institution alumna, Wan Zarah, by 5.64 seconds. The old national junior record is 8:05.25 set by Yvonne Lin Cui Wen set in 2010 at the SAA 3rd All-Comers meet. The previous youth best performance record was 8:19.25, set by Seow Yun Yun in 2011 at the National Schools meet.
Vanessa and her teammate, Lee Yuet Zhen (#125), established a big lead from the start. Vanessa’s fall caused her to lose the lead temporarily but she recovered fast. She regained and widened her lead on the second lap. In the subsequent laps, she held on to her comfortable lead and eventually sprinted ahead for a 8:00.94 finish.
Faye Chiang (#76) of Raffles Institution caught up from behind and struggled to overtake Yuet Zhen. She was eventually forced to settle for third place behind Yuet Zhen with a timing of 8:26.31. Yuet Zhen finished ahead with a timing of 8:18.38.
“I feel like I didn’t do my best, actually. I was pretty shocked after I fell and she (Yuet Zhen) overtook me. So, I sped up. But, I’m very thankful for my coach because I was running too fast as I was nervous. He shouted at me to slow down. When I slowed down, I realised that I calmed down and could clear the barriers better,” said Vanessa.
This is Vanessa’s final event of the National Inter-School Championships.
On her performance, runner-up Yuet Zhen, said, “It was my first time running the steeplechase so I didn’t know what to expect. But, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’ve only been training for the steeplechase ever since the end of the National Inter-School Cross Country Championships about one month ago. It could have been better but I’m quite relieved.”
“I think my performance was ok. I wasn’t expecting much. I wasn’t sure how fast or how slow the pace was going to be. So, I was just going to go at a comfortable pace and when I felt up to it, I would just follow behind,” said Faye Chiang on her third-placed finish. This is also her first steeplechase race.
A Division Girls’ 2,000m Steeplechase Results
1st Vanessa Lee Ying Zhuang (#140, Victoria Junior College) – 8:00.94
2nd Lee Yuet Zhen (#125, Victoria Junior College) – 8:18.38
3rd Chiang Aiting, Faye (#76, Raffles Institution) – 8:26.31
4th Tan Yi-Qin, Edina (#100, Raffles Institution) – 8:37.29
5th Crystabelle Wang Jia Yu (#181, Hwa Chong Institution) – 9:07.57
6th Wong Shiying (#103, Raffles Institution) – 9:10.25
7th Pyone Myat Thwe (#137, Victoria Junior College) – 9:14.09
8th Liu Yujia (#157, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 9:15.33
9th Lim Xiang Min (#64, National Junior College) – 9:31.17
10th Lee Xiao Yu (#153, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 9:50.11
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