Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports.
Thiruben S/O Thana Rajan (#232, NJC) won gold in 2:00.47. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Friday, April 22, 2016 — Thiruben S/O Thana Rajan of National Junior College clocked an eye-catching 2 minutes 0.47 seconds to claim the B Division Boys’ 800 metres gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
Zulkhairi Putera (2:04.29) of Singapore Sports School (SSP) and Oliver Lim (2:05.04) of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) [ACS(I)] finished in second and third respectively.
Thiruben’s timing was a personal best, going under his previous mark of 2:00.80 clocked during the Singapore Athletics Series 3 a month ago. It also made him the fastest 800m runner across all three boys’ divisions. Raffles Institution’s Mark Lim won the A Division race in 2:03.74 while SSP’s Brandon Norton won the C Division race in 2:11.43.
At the same time, Thiruben’s winning timing is the fastest clocked in the B Division ever since ACS(I) alumnus Zachary Ryan Devaraj won with the championship record of 1:57.34 in 2010. Apart from Zachary, Thiruben is the only B Division 800m runner in the past decade to have dipped under 2:01 in the final.
It was Thiruben’s second straight 800m gold, after he had won the B Division race last year in 2:04.26.
Despite retaining his title, Thiruben admitted that he was slightly disappointed that he did not break the two-minute barrier. “My main aim was actually to go sub-2, because I know it’s something that I’m capable of, based on my trainings. But I haven’t been doing it in my past races. Of course another main goal was to secure the win, I’m just happy I did that today. The weather was quite hot, and I did my best under those conditions,” he said.
When asked if he took a gamble in going for a fast timing instead of going for position under the warm weather, he responded, “It was something I tried out before, like in the heats I tried out 57s for the first lap. Based on my trainings I knew I could do a 58s and still be comfortable towards the end, so I’m happy that the pacing was right today.”
“For my victory I would like to thank God, my parents, my coach Mr Loh Chan Pew and my teachers in NJC, and all my training partners from NTU who push me during training,” he added.
Thiruben will now look forward to the B Division Boys’ 1500m final, an event in which he had finished third last year. The final will take place on Friday, April 29, at the National Stadium. He will go up against his friend, Syed Hussein Aljunied of Pasir Ris Secondary, who was the champion for the 3000m and the national schools cross country last month.
On his hopes for the 1500m final, Thiruben said, “I’m going up against Hussein, he’s one of my closest friends. It’s going to be a really tough fight; he has more endurance than me since he’s a cross country runner, but at the same time I feel like I have more speed. Anything can happen, but I guess I have to be confident of winning.”
B Division Boys’ 800m – Top 8
1st Thiruben S/O Thana Rajan (#232, National JC) — 2:00.47
2nd Mohamed Zulkhairi Putera M Z (#134, Singapore Sports School) — 2:04.29
3rd Oliver Lim Tze Rong (#179, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 2:05.04
4th Joseph Hee Jia Liang (#587, Nan Hua High School) — 2:06.94
5th Jonathan Andrew (#94, North Vista Secondary) — 2:09.07
6th Marcus Tan Lai He (#22, Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary) — 2:09.65
7th Chua Jia Wei (#535, Hwa Chong Institution) — 2:11.71
8th Nicholas Lian Yock Chuan (#53, Catholic High School) — 2:11.98
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