By Tay Jun Wen/Red Sports
Choa Chu Kang Sports Complex, Monday, April 15, 2013 — Ow Yeong Yu Xiang of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) broke the record for A Division 400m hurdles by by 0.24 seconds when he came home first in 54.56 seconds at the 54th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
He broke the old record of 54.80s, set by Timothee Yap Jin Wei, then of HCI, in 2011.
Calvin Quek of Raffles Institution was second in 56.40s while Raymond Lee, also of HCI, finished third in 56.69s. Raymond is the current holder of the B Division 400m hurdles record. Running in the colours of St. Joseph’s Institution, he stopped the clock at 55.04s.
In the final 100m, Yu Xiang had a clear lead, leaving Calvin and Raymond to fight it out for second.
“I did not expect to break the record. I was just doing the race as per normal, like as though it was the heats. I’m glad I did not die out at the last 100 metres. I used to have to hang on. I was quite happy to have done well, though some of my steps taken were inaccurate. Probably because I was too nervous,” said Yu Xiang.
He was glad that he did not let people down as they were pinning hopes on him. “I did it for my coach Han Zhong Jian. He was quite tolerant with me since Secondary Two because I was a slow developer. He was very patient with me,” added Yu Xiang.
For Calvin, he was happy with his silver considering his injury. “I was on painkillers today. My knee hurt. It was a new injury. Factoring that in, I was happy with the results. I could have ran better at the end but I did not want to aggravate my injury. They (opponents) were very fast,” said Calvin.
Having taken the O Level examinations last year, Raymond felt that he did not have much time to train. Considering that, he said that he ran quite an okay race.
Raymond said: “My technique over the hurdles could be improved on. Everybody fought hard and they were fast opponents. It was anybody’s game to win.”
A Division Boys 400m Hurdles Results
1st Ow Yeong Yu Xiang (Hwa Chong Institution, #288) — 00:54.56
2nd Quek Jun Jie Calvin (Raffles Institution, #147) — 00:56.40
3rd Raymond Scott Lee Chian Hoong (Hwa Chong Institution, #289) — 00:56.69
4th Goh Jie Yong Jonathan (Hwa Chong Institution, #271) — 00:58.85
5th Eu Jun Liang Benjamin (National Junior College, #103) — 00:58.92
6th Ignatius Tan Wei Ren (Catholic Junior College, #89) — 00:59.36
7th Lim Wei Min Gary (Raffles Institution, #138) — 00:59.79
8th Lew Bi Yang Fabian (Raffles Institution, #136) — 01:00.62
Video © SAA. Used with permission.
For more photos, go to: Red Sports Images
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