Story by REDintern Ryan Lim. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports

cross-u17-boys

Syed Hussein Aljunied of Pasir Ris Sec took home gold with a timing of 16:14.69. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)

Bedok Reservoir Park, Saturday, February 20, 2016 — Syed Hussein Aljunied powered through the 4.6km race route in 16 minutes 14.69 seconds to claim victory in the Under-17 boys category at the 15th Wings Cross Country Championships.

Hussein entered the race brimming with confidence after his win two weeks ago at the 65th Singapore Athletics Cross Country Championships. The Pasir Ris Secondary athlete showed consistency with his second straight victory in the cross country season.

David Lee (16:28.28, Nan Hua High) was 14 seconds behind while Armand Dhilawala Mohan (16:37.74, Raffles Institution) finished third.

Nan Hua took home the top team prize, with David Lee (second place) and Joseph Hee (sixth place) leading the charge. Hwa Chong Institution and St. Joseph’s Institution each had two runners in the top 10 as well.

The race started with Hussein, David and Armand breaking away from the other runners right from the get-go.

David set the pace of the pack for a lengthy period of time, even establishing a gap between himself and Hussein at the midway point. However, his lead did not last for long as Hussein overtook him with another 1.2km to go.

Hussein proceeded to power through the remainder of the race, not allowing David back into contention again.

When quizzed on his race strategy, Hussein commented ,”Mainly I just wanted to stay in front, but it did not go according to plan. At the half way mark, David pushed the pace. I tried to keep up but he was going too fast. I waited for him to tire before pushing the pace myself. After getting in front, I went on to win the race.”

Hussein was the sole representative for Pasir Ris in the Championships. After a disappointing season last year, he was determined to make amends this time round. With two wins out of two, he is well positioned to gun for gold at the National Inter-School Cross Country Championships.

Hussein added, “My goal is to come in first place for the Nationals and also to be the fastest across all the divisions.”

Barring the Men’s open category, only the Under-20 gold medalist Chong Qi (16:08.74, Raffles Institution) finished the race with a time faster than Hussein’s.

Despite missing out on gold in the individual category, second place David Lee still managed to clinch gold in the team category, with the help of his teammates.

The next race for the athletes will be the much anticipated National Inter-School Cross Country Championships.

U17 Boys – 4.6km (Top 10)
1st Syed Hussein Aljunied (#17320, Pasir Ris) — 16:14.69
2nd Lee Yeong Ern David (#17303, Nan Hua)— 16:28.28
3rd Armand Dhilawala Mohan (#17323, RI) — 16:37.74
4th Ivan (#17349, SJI) — 16:46.19
5th Er Wen Han (#17283, Hwa Chong) — 16:52.33
6th Joseph Hee Jia Liang (#17304, Nan Hua) — 16:56.33
7th Austin (#17350, SJI) — 17:01.62
8th Selvanther Sivarajan (#17268, Flexifitness Consultancy) — 17:02.44
9th Fang Yiyang (#17262, Commonwealth) — 17:03.85
10th George Lai (#17284, Hwa Chong) — 17:05.27

More photos next page.