More than just runners…. We are a family

Hi ppl,

Here’s a couple of running events coming up worth taking a look:

Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon 2009:
http://www.safra.sg/page.aspx?pageid=300

RUNNUS 2009:
http://www.runnus09.com/

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run ‘09:
http://yellowribbonprisonrun.sg/

Mizuno Wave Run 2009:
http://www.worldofsports.com.sg/index.cfm?GPID=22

Do check out the websites for more updates!

Your friendly site admin.

Covered swimming heats in the morning, so by the time I got to Bishan stadium, they had just announced the Boys 100M which, through all the hype, Singapore got a bronze.

There was quite a lot of drama today: 800M boys final was too close to call. My colleagues (who were covering middle-dist) & I were convinced the runners from Iraq & S. Korea would get medals, but in the end, two others – Kumar Ravi (India) & Beyranvand Amir (Iran) came out of nowhere to sprint & then literally throw themselves at the finishing line. Both were celebrating, both were convinced they had won. Even the photo finish couldn’t tell. But Kumar (1:55.91) beat the Iranian’s 1:55.93. Super close.

And then Hong Kong’s Boys 4×200M relay team got disqualified for 2 false starts. Unfortunately the official – who might be from Saa – when to disqualify the Bahrainian team instead. So there was so much confusion the supporters were starting to curse & swear.

Besides that, we were again rooting for another Iranian, Khademi Masoomeh, to win the girls 800M. Partly because we think the Middle Eastern teams need people to cheer for them, & partly because she has become a kind of celebrity among the media people for being the only runner to run in a hijab, baggy longs & (what seemed to us as) an oversized shirt. But she is verrrrry fast (emphasis on fast). She finished 4th at 2:28.27. Can I run that fast? I really don’t think so.

China took boys shot put gold & boys high jump. S Korea took girls javelin. Japan won girls 100M. And, finally, we got to hear a new national anthem playing: Kazakhstan beat China to boys triple jump.

Highlight of the Day: Thailand completely owned everyone else in both boys & girls 4×200M relays. Granted, it’s a strange distance. But when the Thai boys beat Saudi Arabia by half a second, the Thai newscasters in the media area went wild.

Super Close: Thailand (in blue) just beat Saudi Arabia (in white/ green) for the Boys 4x200M gold.

And then Thailand’s girls sprint team – who were wearing hot pink – completely outclassed the Japanese (who were the favourites). There was no fight. And we couldn’t even get an interview because the Thai media was all over them.

No Contest - Yuadthong Benjamas (Thailand) wins the Girls 4x200M Relay with almost 3 seconds advantage over Japan.

So the final events of the AYG Athletics competition ended with a double win for a S.E Asian country. With their lap of honour around the stadium, in different directions:

Thai athletes on their lap of honour

And the girls go the other direction - to be mobbed by photographers

Needless to say the Athletics competition is over. Bishan stadium will reopen for people living in AMK to do running (but not within the next 2 weeks, I heard). I will miss all the friendly Qatari & Iranian athletes who helped me do my assignments by helping me translate. And even though there’s an obscene amount of track & field coverage on a cross-country website, hopefully it’ll motivate more vistors to the blog to take up running.

A last note: I must thank Nicholas for taking the distance of the discus throws properly. As feedback: most of the throwers I interviewed said the officiating was good. The officials were, despite some slip-ups (see above), very well-trained & professional.

Before I start, let me apologize to Kelvin, Melvin & Benedict. Thursday was super-busy, so I didn’t have time to join you guys in the stands.

Positive thing about today: there were a LOT of supporters today, much better than the previous days. Atmosphere was electric. Even in the media area (which was full of Thai, Qatari & Chinese reporters) we could feel that YES, this is how track & field should feel like. Ironically though, a small bunch of Japanese & Chinese supporters were out-cheering everyone else. I didn’t get any photos, because I was too busy talking to people, helping out the media crew.

The most exciting event – at last – was a field event. Kumar Rohit (India) & Cheng Chao-Tsun (Chinese Taipei) were fighting it out for gold. Their throws were insane (70 metres & more), especially for Kumar, who claims he only started Javelin throwing in 2007. He won because he made a huge throw of 74 metres. Later, he said to some of us at the media zone: “My Dad is a hurdler, but he wanted me to take up Javelin.” Interdisciplinary ah.

Japan (2 golds – Girls 100M hurdles, Boys 400M) & China (5 golds – Boys long jump, Girls discus, Boys 110M hurdles, Girls/ Boys 400M hurdles) owned everyone today. There was not a lot of Middle East/ Central Asian competition for any of the events, despite their supporters cheering them on. Even then, the Saudi Arabians & the Kuwaitis were very polite (even though they couldn’t speak English), & tried to answer all our queries.

Highlight of the Day: got my pic taken with Gu Yu, China’s girls discus-throw gold medallist. From her 1st throw, nobody else could catch up to her. She beat her personal best today, but since there was practically no one there to congratulate her, we (my colleague & I) went to do it instead & conduct an interview at the same time. And there I discovered that even though my Mandarin is horrible, but I can still communicate enough to make another person understand that I’m congratulating her.

On Friday, I might drop by after the swimming is over. I would like to see the last day of AYG Athletics.

I hereby decree that there has not been adequate coverage of the Middle East & Central Asian competitors & will devote the rest of my time at Bishan trying to find out more about them(!)

Day 2 suffered the same problems as Day 1: a lack of spectators & less-than-spectacular coverage of the field events. Singapore didn’t get any medals today: girls triple jumper Mohd Rahim was in bronze medal position but made 2 technical faults in her last 2 jumps & ended up 5th. Zachary Ryan, the local 800m specialist, did not start. Tomorrow’s papers might tell us why. The thing that drew cheers from the crowd:

Girls 100M Hurdles (Heats 1) - L to R: Singaporean Inez Leong (red) qualifying by coming in third, Perera Anna Marie Keshani from Sri Lanka coming in 4th & Kremneva Daria of Kyrgyzstan coming in 2nd

Of the 3 finals: China won girls pole vault, North Korea won girls triple jump & Iran took girls shot put.

Storm the Finishing Line! - L to R: Muayad Mohamed I S Ahmed (Qatar) in 3rd, Beyranvand Amir (Iran) in 2nd, Kumar Ravi (India) in 1st at 2:03 mins for Boys 800M (Heats 2)

Unfortunately, the foreign supporters were much louder than the sec school students. Especially of note, were the Chinese & the Iranians, who were shouting all the way. There were 2 huge groups of Middle Eastern supporters who were cheering each others’ teams on.

Bishan Stadium at 1930hrs, when everyone has gone home, as seen from the track.

Still, in my opinion the most stylo team of Athletics is Qatar. The girls wear a hijab & full leg skins to run – & they are verry fast. So because they were so vocal on & off the track, I decided to support them. I have some pictures of them running, but can’t post them up because they belong to the official website.

Highlight of the day: my colleague was talking to 1 of the Qatari girls, who got a silver in the girls shot put. She has only been throwing for one month (she used to compete in wrestling), & still she could throw a distance far enough to represent her country. She was also kind enough to help in translating Arabic/ Farsi into English when we spoke to other Middle Eastern athletes.

For those coming down, Singaporeans will be running in the Boys 100M & Girls 100M hurdles. All middle-distance events are over except 800M finals. Don’t need to buy drinks: Red Bull, 100-plus & Milo have been giving out drinks at the stadium entrance for the past 2 days.

Ayg started yesterday. I was at Bishan watching Athletics.

There weren’t a lot of people, and whatever people I ran into were complaining about ticket prices. Two P.E teachers sitting behind me in a completely empty block of the grandstand were talking about it all day. And when the schedule cancelled the sprints semi-finals, they just walked off, said some not-very-nice-things & left me alone there.

Nine bucks to watch track & field is pushing it a bit too far. At least the first day had enough Singaporeans running & jumping to make all the sec school kids shout & scream, which was probably worth it. Every time a local runner/ jumper’s name got read out the crowd below me (mainly students in their uniforms) went pretty crazy. It’s real rare to see people get worked up over track & field like that – I’ve never seen people cheer & shout & yell for every round the middle-distance people are running.

But, as Alan would swiftly put it, nothing is equal in the long run. The attention the pole vaulters & the sprinters got was phenomenal, while the field events suffered from both the organizers & fans’ attention deficit. A very fierce play-off for the gold medal between two high-jumpers (chinese taipei + hong kong) that went on for almost an hour in the corner D was only announced at the final jump. Discus-throwing went on & ended without the spectators knowing who won. In a track & field event you definitely can’t keep your eyes on everything – there are at least 3 concurrent events, which the sprints dominating the foreground – but some results would be nice.

Still, I felt a bit upset that no one stayed for the medal ceremonies. Everyone was there to cheer the two local bronze medallists. But it makes me feel bad – as a sportsman myself – when, once the victory parade is over, an entire swarm of journalists & photographers mob the local guy, while the two silver & gold winners shake hands with the vip & leave quietly so they don’t interrupt the photography. It also seems not very right when, 1500 medals are being presented, & the stands are practically empty because there’re no locals getting honoured. By then, it was already close to 7, & no one except the volunteers were clapping. There were pockets of overstayers (like me) who got ushered to leave almost immediately.

On days when I don’t have assignments, I will probably go down to congratulate the winners of the later medal presentations. Because it must feel a bit weird to get a gold medal for running 4 minutes flat for 1500, but have no one to stand for your national anthem.

Today there’re no more middle-dist events, mostly semi-finals & hurdles. The Gulf States have been dominating middle-distance & throws, China has been owning everyone in jumps & I’m hoping India can make it a Discus double for guys-girls. Central Asian states (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan etc etc) have the tallest, fairest & possibly most good-looking athletes of the games There will probably be many more track & field competitions to come, but if you’re looking for something really international, it doesn’t get any better than this

A killer but fun run

Was a pretty fun run. Competing were Nick Tey, Jackie, Jayanta, Benedict, Aaron, Angela and I.

The starter’s gun went off 5 min early. Started  out conservatively to prepare myself for the arduous upslope at Mt. Faber. I regulated my breathing, overtook a few guys on the steep slopes where people stopped to walk. The easy run we did earlier (from hort park to Mt. Faber) in the week helped a lot. At least, I knew where the top was. I saw desolation in the guys who started walking, their shoulders slumped in defeat.

As I reached the top, I affored myself the luxury of admiring the grand scenery below me. Mount Faber shall henceforth be renamed the stairway to heaven. A truly beautiful place.

Heavenly Scenery

Got back to business. Tried to shake off the lactate in my legs as I cantered downhill. The real killer was the hilly terrain along telok blangah and the bukit merah neighbourhood. Paced this crazy young guy who was breathing really hard and bearing down on me.
Finished in a time of 43.06. Jackie did a fabulous 41min. Ever the ladies man, Benedict took things easy and stuck to his plan of pacing a beautiful group of girls. Nick was really pleased with his sub 47min performance.
Aaron was 4th in the men’s open with a stunning time of 36min. Mr Perfectionist, Aaron mused or more accurately “whined” about his potential 3rd place. We listened as usual in utter commiseration but I guess our thoughts were more on breakfast!

The amazing morning was capped off with a wonderful breakfast at Junction 8 with Patrick and Girri who came by from Macritchie.

at least for 12 1/2 meters. =]

It was major achievement day for many of us yesterday afternoon.
Melvin can swim 100m front crawl!
Kelvin managed not sink! and screamd like a girl at the 4.0m deep pool.
Jackie showed off his pink kickboard!
Alan tried the breast stroke which Kelvin claimed to be very good at and Jackie demonstrated… hahahahaha… ok. inside joke.
Yap Xiong can swim!!! for 12 1/2 meters.
Tey swam 50m? not very sure, not paying attention…
Mel Lim got to watch a bunch of more than half naked boys/men in the pool.
I swam about 75m front crawl… =]

Many Thanks to Mr Quek for refining us into amphibious creatures! Much much progression was made!
Thanks to Alan and Jackie also, for guiding and swimming with us newbies! =]

See you guys later for training! =]

“X-Country is not just about running, sometimes we may be met with a body of water.” -Unknown (ok, crap, its just Me. hahahaha)

With much thanks,

Benedict.

Hey guys and gals! Its me, the recreational/pseudo-competitive runner, Benedict! =]
Hope everyone is doing well with whatever they are up to.

Its the off season for many of us and well, SERIOUS training may not have the highest priority on our list right now.
So, being the curious guy that I am, I have tried swimming, with myself, Melvin and recently Jackie, and cycling, during Pat’s Ultra.

So, about swimming. Its a little more expensive than running, $1 for entry and 20 to 40 cents for baggage.

I would like to say that swimming with Melvin and Jackie at the Tampines Swimming complex is one event I look forward to now, during the holidays. Very low tension and fun. Yes, the pair of Jackie and Melvin is a rather enjoyable one to be with. Experimenting with the front crawl, looking out for beautiful girls(unsuccessfully) and splashing water around. So, I would like to extend the invitation to all who are free to join us to relax, soak and splash water in the pool even if you know nothing about swimming. You may occasionally see me doing running drills and jumping around in the water. =]

Today, I did a pseudo reverse sprint distance aquathlon. Basically I went running for about 5/6/7km, i didn’t keep track(pun not intended), and then went into the pool to soak, swim for awhile then see the secondary school kids playing around, enjoying the June holidays. Don’t ask about the transition. Very badly planned. Now I’m feeling tired and lazy to move.

Cycling, on the other hand, is not so fun(though, yes, I can ride my bike with no handlebars). It was probably the whole atmosphere of the Sundown Marathon. Close to zero supporters. Lack of medical staff, which I felt was very very VERY irresponsible of the Sundown team. I mean, you’ve got people dying in AHM, and you don’t have sufficient medical staff for an ultramarathon. =/ ok, there I go ranting about the lack of good organization of the Sundown Marathon. Anyway, I don’t see myself cycling anytime soon. Too expensive(renting a bike is about 10 times more expensive than swimming?) and you don’t get to make jokes about Melvin’s tights or how Kelvin would sink in the pool.

A word out to Pat, YOU CRAZY IDIOT. go rest. =P
Melvin, probably you can post a facebook message or email or post on the blog when are we going to soak in the pool in Tampines then the rest can come join us.
Kelvin, all the best for your exams.
Jackie, hahahahahahahahaha….
Yap Xiong, splashing water is fun!
Alan Sim, don’t worry, I’m sure Mr Quek will notice you…….. someday.
Alan Kwek, enjoy your time with your girlfriend!
Azrul, come back soon man. =]
CHAY!!!, nothing to say.
Yati, All the best for your training!
And to all whom I have missed out, take care and have fun!!! ;] its the holidays!!!

With NOTHING better to do,
Benedict. =]

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