by Manjit Singh (Coach Jit)
As we ascended at Bedok Reservoir on a sleepy saturday morning at 6.30am to prepare for the Singapore Athletics (SA) Cross Country run, the least we expected was a good showing from JS Athletics runners as many were coming back from holidays and there were some who was recuperating from injuries suffered while participating in other sports. But as the adage goes “The show must go on” and true to the “Fine Blue colours of JS Athletics” we did remarkably well with still couple of absentees due to holidays.
The first race to be flag off was the Under 15 and Under 18 Girls, as the race started, the effervescent Indira Patel flew off as there was no turning back. From start to finish, she was the lone runner who was fighting the clock and came home romping in a remarkable time of 18.38.3s (she recorded the fastest time across all women and girls age group categories) even though she started training seriously a week ago after recovering from hip injury. It is frightening to know as well encouraging cause, what’s next in stored for the “gazelle” if she keeps her health in prim condition. Soon to follow in the race was Ullekha Murali, who had to train intermittently due to studies constraints and still completed the race in 26.23s.
In the Under 15 Girls Category, Katia M. Littau, who came in 7th in her very first race with a time of 23.49. The never say die attitude of this petite girl is simply remarkable considering the amount of niggling injuries she is carrying.
In the boys section, the hardworking Ori Sade romp home in a new PB of 19.39s and was delighted to slash more than a minute off his previous time and was rewarded with 7th placing in the Under 15 Category. He was followed by Arav Cabral who ran an amazing race with only attending a couple of training sessions and further followed by K. S. Gautam to complete our Under 15 contingent. Valentin Wersch ran the Under 18 Boys in 19.03s to complete the boys division.
So early in the season and as usual JS Athletics athletes are showing promises and are gearing in good condition for the upcoming races.
Good Luck to our athletes in the coming races!