Story by Nicole Lum/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports

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Celeste Goh (#92) of Singapore Sports School took home gold with a timing of 1:06.40. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)

Bukit Gombak Stadium, Monday, April 20, 2015 — Last year’s bronze medalist, Celeste Goh of Singapore Sports School, returned to take home the gold in the B Division girls’ 400m hurdles final at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships. She clocked a time of 1 minute and 6.40 seconds, over two seconds faster than her result a year ago.

Finishing in second place was Pebbles Lee of CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), who crossed the finish line in 1:11.83. Nanyang Girls’ High’s Tan Rou Ann took bronze in 1:11.99.

On her performance, Celeste remarked that she was satisfied but not completely happy.

“I wanted to go below 65 seconds,” she explained. “I think it was because there was nobody to push me.”

The Secondary 4 student has been showing steady improvement so far.

“I ran a 66.82 seconds in the recent Singapore Open. The people there were really fast and they pushed me to run hard,” said Celeste, who also bagged a silver in the 400m last week.

Celeste is already looking beyond the National Inter-School Track and Field Championships. The upcoming Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Doha is one of the international meets that she will be taking part in.

The B Division girls’ 400m hurdles record is 1:03.86, set by T Piriyah while she was running for Singapore Sports School in 2008.

B Division Girls’ 400m Hurdles Results
1st Celeste Goh Jia Rui (#92, Singapore Sports School) – 1:06.40
2nd Lee Wern Pebbles (#125, CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh)) – 1:11.83
3rd Tan Rou Ann (#410, Nanyang Girls’ High School) – 1:11.99
4th Chia Shi Qi, Britney (#29, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School) – 1:12.92
5th Nadia Basil Heng Li Juan (#258, Cedar Girls’ Secondary School) – 1:14.19
6th Hannah Esther Tan Shu-En (#248, Cedar Girls’ Secondary School) – 1:15.89
7th Tan Chor Leng, Claudine (#409, Nanyang Girls’ High School) – 1:16.93
8th Yap Hui Yen (#57, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School) – 1:24.28

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