Story by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Clara Yuan/Red Sports

A Division girls' 400m

Nur Haidah (#94) of Raffles Institution in action. She clocked a timing of 1:01.71 to clinch her first A Division girls’ 400m title. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)

Bukit Gombak Stadium, Thursday, April 16, 2015 — With a run of 1 minute and 1.71 seconds, Nur Haidah (#94) of Raffles Institution (RI) achieved her first B Division girls’ 400m gold at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships.

“I’m really really happy, because I’ve never expected myself to be here,” said the final year RI student, who also bettered her personal best by 0.43 seconds.

“I have my coach, Mr. Melvin Tan, and my teammates to thank for this win. Last year, I didn’t even come this close.”

The 18-year-old’s podium finish is a huge jump from last year’s edition, where she finished in seventh place with a timing of 1:05.19.

She added, “I guess it’s hard work and perseverance, including the support of my friends and teammates, that got me here today. It’s my last year already, so I just tried my best and went all out.”

In second place was Hwa Chong Institution’s Claudia Sng (#179), who clocked a time of 1:02.57 to edge out third-placed teammate Pan Xin-Min (#199), by a hundredth of a second.

The electronically-timed A Division girls’ 400m record is 58.65s and was set by National Junior College alumna, Shalom Danielle See, in 2008. The hand-timed record is 56.4s and was set by Prema Govindan, then of Ang Mo Kio Secondary, in 1984.

A Division Girls’ 400m Results
1st: Nur Haidah Bte Ahmad Kamal (#94, Raffles Institution) – 1:01.71
2nd: Claudia Sng Jia Xin (#179, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1:02.57
3rd: Pan Xin-Min (#199, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1:02.58
4th: Janine Lim Jiajia (#122, Victoria Junior College) – 1:02.60
5th: Lim Si Yi (#90, Raffles Institution) – 1:04.60
6th: Sharlene Teo Yu Teng (#200, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1:05.41
7th: Zheng Yanying (#144, Victoria Junior College) – 1:05.45
8th: Zheng Yanlei (#143, Victoria Junior College) – 1:08.58

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