Story by Edina Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports.
Tan Chong Qi (#149, RI) takes home gold with a timing of 16:53.68. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Tuesday, April 19, 2016 — An exhilarating race between top contenders Tan Chong Qi of Raffles Institution (RI) and Isaac Tan of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) ultimately concluded with the former taking home the A Division Boys’ 5000 metres title at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championship, clocking a timing of 16 minutes 53.68s.
The electronically-timed record for this event stands at 15:40.58, held by Darshananth S/O Jayaraman, an Innova Junior College alumnus, since 2006.
Isaac had claimed the A Division Boys’ cross country individual title three weeks ago, while Chong Qi had come in second in the race then. This time round, Chong Qi managed to get the better of his rival.
Isaac finished with a timing of 17:21.48, followed by Chirag Gupta of RI in third with 17:36.79.
From the start of the race, Chong Qi, Isaac and RI’s Chester Lee pulled away from the rest of the pack. The trio formed the leading pack and pulled away further in the second lap.
Heading into the third lap, Chong Qi and Isaac were neck and neck, with the former trying his best to drop the competition.
The duo ran closely together until the second last lap, where Chong Qi managed to pull away from Isaac and maintained his lead to finish a comfortable first.
When asked about the race, Chong Qi said, “It was a team effort from the start, and I went in front with the intention of maintaining the lead throughout. I could feel Isaac behind me breathing down my neck, but I just kept telling myself to push on.”
He added, “I want to thank everyone who has been there for me – my coaches, Ms June Tan, Mr Steven Lim, Mr Joe Goh – parents, and friends, especially Chester, who has been my training partner.”
Chester had maintained third position for most of the race, until heat exertion caused him to collapse on the last lap before the finish. He refused help from race officials and paramedics, crawling the last 10m on all fours over the finish line to finish 16th and last, but to cheers from spectators.
Meanwhile, Chong Qi will now look to retain his 3000m steeplechase title. The heats for the A Division Boys’ 3000m steeplechase will take place on Friday, April 22 while the final will be on Monday, April 25.
A Div 5000m (Boys) Results
1st Tan Chong Qi (#149, RI) — 16:53.68
2nd Tan Wei Long Issac (#68, ACS(I)) — 17:21.48
3rd Chirag Gupta (#125, RI) — 17:36.79
4th Yap Sae-Hwa Daniel (#69, ACS(I)) — 17:45.25
5th Sudarshan Udpa (#168, SAJC) — 17:54.58
6th Brandon Quek (#189, VJC) — 17:57.30
7th Lim Xi Chen Terry (#107, NJC) — 17:59.70
8th Raymond Sng Kian Boon (#40, YJC) — 18:31.20
9th Neo Yew Chong (#62, ACS(I)) — 18:41.15
10th Jonas Ng Zuo En (#253, HCI) — 18:53.66
11th Lee Tze Kerr Scott (#258, HCI) — 19:07.52
12th Lim Chee Yean, Adrian (#161, SAJC) — 19:17.24
13th Hiroshi Tan Hao Zhi (#17, SRJC) — 19:26.72
14th Derek Terrance Lee (#194, VJC) — 19:31.82
15th Gan Wai Kit (#102, NJC) — 19:34.04
16th Lee Zhong Kian, Chester (#139, RI) — 19:44.49
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