Superman Adriel Tay lands 1500m A Division win in third Raffles Institution podium sweep

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures by Leslie Tan/Red Sports.

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Thursday, April 23, 2009 – Adriel Tay of Raffles Institution dived at the last possible moment to snatch victory over team-mate and 800m champion Soh Hua Qun by a mere 0.05s in a spectacular finish to the 1500m A Division boys’ race. Adriel won in a time of 4 minutes 19.23 seconds with Hua Qun coming up agonisingly short in a time of 4:19.28. In third was 5000m runner-up Lim Zhi Ming, also of Raffles Institution, in a time of 4:22.06.

The race started with Zhi Ming leading the pack through 300m in 50s. Kumaran S/O Kalaiselvan of Boon Lay Secondary was the blip in the order of Raffles Institution runners with Adriel and Hua Qun behind him in third and fourth place respectively.

At the 500m mark, Kumaran stepped up the pace and took the lead as the Raffles Institution boys followed him, assured in their superior numbers.

The 700m mark was passed in 2:01 as the four established a 30m lead on the chase pack. Zhi Ming once again took the lead at the 900m mark with Hua Qun and Adriel content to sit on the pace.

As they entered the business end of the race on the bell lap, the Raffles Institution trio upped the tempo another level as they dropped Kumaran. Hua Qun assumed control of the pace, intent on taking advantage of his 800m speed with Adriel latching on and Zhi Ming trying his best to hang on.

With 250m to go, just before the final bend, Hua Qun and Adriel started kicking in a bid to get ahead of each other as Zhi Ming fell slowly out of reach.

No inch was conceded as Hua Qun and Adriel headed down the home-straight, with supporters from their school shouting them on from the stands. Hua Qun was just ahead of Adriel at this point.

Their bodies slowly paralysing with lactic acid with each desperate push for the line, Adriel suddenly launched into a dive that saw him nick the 1500m title – the only event he entered for at the championships – ahead of Hua Qun who had also catapulted his body across upon sensing Hua Qun’s dive.

In a scintillating end to the 1500m final which saw hearts stopped and mouths agape, both Adriel and Hua Qun laid in a crumpled heap at the end of the track, bruised from the intense battle.

As Zhi Ming, who had a good view from right behind them, commented: “I was quite surprised. It was like a bad shock – the way they fell – and I was a bit worried as Hua Qun is also supposed to run the 4X400m later.”

In a relief for the Raffles Institution supporters, Hua Qun only sustained minor scrapes as he returned later to help the Raffles Institution team to 5th place in the 4X400m final.

Hua Qun shared about losing the race to Adriel.

“I am happy for him. It was a fair fight. We are both fighting for the school for the championship so it doesn’t matter from a school perspective.”

When asked what he learnt from the close finish, Hua Qun added: “It is probably the realisation that anything can happen in a race and how to handle the pressure during a race that gets you through.”

With the 1-2-3 finish in the 1500m, Raffles Institution made it a treble of podium finishes after their earlier sweeps in the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase events. The treble sweep by the middle and long distance runners contributed a whopping 66 points to their overall winning score of 167 points in the A Division, a contribution of over a third.

The A Division boys’ championship race went down to the wire this year, with Victoria Junior College just three points behind on 164 points and Hwa Chong Institution third on 152 points. Raffles Institution achieves their first A Division double since 2005.

Zhi Ming summed up saying: “I think we deserve it. We’ve been training very hard. I feel very good that the distance runners have contributed so many points to the school’s effort for the championship.”

Results (Top-Eight Only)

1500m A Division Boys
1. Tay You Wei Adriel Raffles Institution 4:19.23
2. Soh Hua Qun Raffles Institution 4:19.28
3. Lim Zhi Ming Raffles Institution 4:22.06
4. Khairul Amsyar Bin Mohd Razis Catholic Junior College 4:32.07
5. Kumaran S/O Kalaiselvan Boon Lay Secondary 4:32.37
6. Li Jianrui Hwa Chong Institution 4:33.53
7. Marcus Tan Victoria Junior College 4:33.80
8. Tiong Wei Jie Hwa Chong Institution 4:33.82

For full results, please refer to www.schoolsports.sg

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For more pictures, go to the gallery.

Other Raffles Institution highlights
Raffles Institution in the 4x400m heats:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhSPB1i5JA