Update by REDintern Danial Azmie. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Friday, July 11, 2008- T.Piriyah was the toast of her school on Friday when the Singapore Sports School runner shattered a 37-year-old National B Division Girls 400m record by one second. She clocked 57.11s and finished 3 seconds ahead of her nearest rival. She was the only runner in that event to clock a time of under a minute.
More significantly, a check with the National Under-17 records also proved that she beat fellow contemporary Valerie Seema Pereira’s 2005 timing as well, heralding her as a track potential to watch out for.
It was a massive improvement from her showing last year where she won the bronze medal after being overshadowed by perennial rivals Dipna Lim Prasad and Fiona Ng Yee Lin (1st and 2nd respectively). However, this time round, Piriyah’s steely determination to trump the odds paid off. Her breathtaking performance shaved more than 3 seconds off last year’s podium finish, ensuring that the other runners could only bite her dust this time.
Her winning performance was certainly not a flash in a pan result, as she had also set a new record of 66.05sec in the heats of the B Division 400m hurdles last Tuesday.
Hope springs eternal on what this talented bunch of runners can achieve in the track fraternity for the coming years, as the hard work by the teachers, coaches and runners alike suddenly bloomed into fruition on that fateful Friday. Like a sudden hail of shooting stars, they illuminated the School Track and Field scene and catalyzed its growth, in just the space of a day.
Teachers and coaches who have seen many years of school sports meets and are veterans of the scene have openly acknowledged “Fantastic Friday” to be an extremely rare occasion with so many records broken.
“We take it as a good sign, and we wish for better things to arrive.”
Final Result
400 Metres B-Girls
1st- T Piriyah (Singapore Sports School) 00:57.11 (Meet & B Division Record)
2nd- Fiona Ng (CHIJ St Nicholas Girls') 01:00.39
3rd- Charmaine Oh (Nanyang Girls’) 01:01.38
More photos in the gallery.
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