TRACK AND FIELD

National ‘C’ Division
24, 25 March 2007 at Bukit Gombak Stadium

Report by Mr Alan Koh, teacher-in-charge of Catholic High’s Track and Field team. Thanks, Mr Koh.

Catholic High’s victorious 4x800m relay team. © Ian Chew

Of the 21 gold medals garnered by Sports School over the weekend 24 and 25 Mar at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) Schools Relay Championships held at the Bukit Gombak stadium, one crucial gold medal eluded them. It was the C Division 4x800m relay title won by the Catholic High team comprising Roy Chiang, Chua Yang Qin, Brian Cheang and Jonathan Teo.

It was a thrilling race which went down the wire.

Roy Chiang started on the 1st leg, going into the lead and pulling away about 20m from the pack at the start. Into the 2nd round, the pack got closer to him and boys from the Sports School and ACS (I) passed him as they came down the last straight. When Roy handed over to Yang Qin, we were about 20m behind. The gap widened to about 40m when Yang Qin handed over to Brian Cheang. Brian Cheang closed it down to about 30m when he handed over to Jonathan.

This was when the excitement really got started. Jonathan sprinted off immediately and went for the chase. He closed down on the boys from Sports School and ACS (I) and by the 150m mark, he had overtaken them. The rest followed close behind. As Jonathan had embarked on such a frenetic pace from the start, the concern was whether he could last the rest of the 800m.

But lasted he did, with the ACS (I) runner unable to keep pace and losing ground with 250m to go. The Sports School runner however, stuck close to Jonathan and with 100m to go, he started kicking off on the right of Jonathan and was just a step behind. Jonathan was not about to let go of the lead and with about 30m to go, he pushed on with all he had, driving his arms and legs, finishing strongly ahead of the Sports School boy. The team had struck gold.

Afterward, a thrilled teacher-in-charge of the track and field team, Mr Alan Koh commented:

“I have always told the boys that the race will ultimately be won by those with the greatest desire. I’m really glad they displayed that today. They managed to beat a Sports School team brimming with quality. I’m sure that they will carry this positive spirit for the coming inter-school cross country championship!”