Adidas King of the Road Singapore Race Review 2012

Last Sunday 28 Oct, I took part in the adidas King of the Road, with the final leg in Singapore. The race tag is kind of refreshing with the "is all in" behind my name. KOTR is a running championship held across Southeast Asia, held in five countries across the region and organised in city areas - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. The race distance is 16.8km.

On the Race 

KOTR is a very well organised race, adidas has very good experiences in running such big events, however i had a few points to make and hope they can change and improve on.

The race starts at 7:15 am, it is kind of late in my opinion, with the morning sun at around 8 plus am, it is going to be quite tough, it will be better if they can bring the time forward by 30 mins to 1 hr. We had to walk around 1km to the start line, well i have no complaints of that, just treat that 1km as a warm-up, plus runners can chit-chat with friends. At the start line there was a water point!! Well this is really good, I'm surprised by this welcoming sight, this is the first time i saw a water point right before the start line, runners can take a quick slip before the run. Do keep up with this!

The route itself is challenging with plenty of uphill, with 3 timing check points. adidas can look into the road block itself and make sure it is secure. At the 14km mark, 2 ladies (well i'm polite to call them ladies, kind of mid-age aunties), just cut across in front of me. They cheated!! from 6-7km and jump to 14km! Because there isn't any proper road block, it will never happen in Standard Chartered race. They are not runners, cheating themselves and the rest of runners who put in the effort. This is a disgrace! For participants who signed up for any race, please respect the distance and the route. Else don't sign up for the run in the 1st place.

Along the route, the water-points are sufficient. At around the 15km mark, 2-3 water point volunteers even gave out water by crossing to the other side of the road (when runners are really suffering in the heat), they show sometime beyond their duty. Of all my years of running, this is the 1st time i saw this, i salute the volunteers for being so helpful and kind. This make the race stand up, and they are doing it with a difference. Keep up the good work!

adidas should had runpix for this race, so runners can review their race! Just showing the timing at the 3 check point is not enough. I finished in Rank 579, i doubt i'm that fast, how accurate is this, my timing is not fantastic, my friend who is 8 mins faster than me, was in 554. As runners we would like to know the total number of runners on the field. Before the race, the DJ announced that there are 12,000 runners. Well it don't look that big, i would put it at less than 10k runners. It will be unknown, how many runners started, and how many finished the race.

Overall race experience, i would give a score of 8/10. Good work! 

Just start the race 30 mins earlier, DJ speech can improve at the start of the race, play some nicer music and have runpix, then it will be 9/10!

the blue running singlet and the finisher medal 

I had took part in a few races after last year Standard Chartered Marathon 2011, it had been quite sometime and it seems that I had forgot about this blog. Ran in the Sundown Half Marathon 2012 and the Army Half Marathon 2012, the next coming race with be a half marathon for Standard Chartered in Dec.

Sundown Ultramarathon 100km Finisher Medal

Sundown Ultramarathon Finisher medal, 1ookm
Ultramaraton Runner

OFFICIAL RESULTS ON RUNPIX

Of the 488 who finished, 12% were Women and 88% were Men.

As mentioned in the earlier post, i met up with my running friend James for dinner on Sunday. He brought along his finisher medal. Right now, i guess this is the only picture avaliable on the net, didn't manage to find one. Sealed in a self-made plastic cover for protection, there was reflection when the picture was taken, precious medal! Nevertheless we can still view it :) When each runner crossed the finish line, the organizer volunteer will putting the medal over your head.

He ran till 70km, didn't rest or take a break apart from the water point. From 70km to 100km, it was run & walk to finish.

Result
13 hrs 50 mins 57 sec. Men's open 67th place with 235 finishers behind.

If you are walking like a penguin, then you have to stop, there's no point walking towards the finish line in a limp, the distance is just too great (there is a cut off time for the race). By pushing through the pain barrier, there might be more harm to your body. This is the advise given by James after the race, and the organizer had mentioned this before the race. He saw a lot of runners who had to give up at around 50km, there was a bus to fetch these guys.

I'm glad to play my part in helping him to draw out the training plan, yesterday he thanked me for it. Although i have not attempt an ultramarathon before but more or less i did read on how people train for such races. As each runner is different, the most important factor was to know the person well, based on his running experience, looking at the physical and mental aspect, how he can adapt to the training program over the months. Important things to look out for over this training period, more critical in the last month or so. Understanding how the body react during the training, and finally the 1 week rest needed before the race day (tapering).

In return, the challenge he thrown me was to participate in the race next year, now that he had completed the one and only ultra. 100km??? I knew my limit, and the distance i can cover, 100km is simply too much.

Before i ended this post, here is something i would like to share with all (there will be a separate post on more of the specially selected quotation from the book).Finished reading a book on Extreme Running by Kym McConnell & Dave Horsley over the weekend.

The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering.
- Igjugarjuk, Caribou Eskimo Shaman

Singapore Zoo Run 2011 Race Review

looking forward for a good run, which didn't happen...
Bad Weather. Race Cancelled.

Along Mandai road, runners parked their cars along double yellow lines

Last Saturday was the zoo run, signed up for the competitive men 8km, upon arrival at Mandai Road, that was this jam. The traffic police stopped us at 1.5km before the zoo entrance, so i have to walked in (again walking out after the run).

A massive crowd when i arrived, it was hard to find a place to warm up too, at around 4 pm it started to run, thunderstorm, i just find a corner below the information counter and sat down, no point standing up waiting when you don't know how soon the rain will stop. Closed my eyes seated cross-legged, kind of in a meditation position. At around a 5 pm i decided to stand up and walk around, unknowingly i joined the queue in collection the medal. Super long queue, saw our Singapore Marathon Champion Mok Ying Ren, waited for around 20-25 mins before i got the items (medal & a hand-held water bottle). I walked towards the start line and saw a crowd of runners waiting, the rain had stopped at around 5:10 pm. So i just joined the 6km fun run (people were eating ice-cream, drinking 100 plus as the race starts, this is surely a fun run/walk). It was dangerous as kids around the height of my hip, were running in front of me, i had to stop suddenly a couple of times, as usual couples holding hand walking, it was expected as it was a fun run anyway. A small boy about 6 years old dashed in front of me and fell, i pat him on his shoulder as he was standing up, the wet ground made running dangerous.

Collecting the medal before the run.
Holding on the medal & hand-held water bottle, completed the 6 km fun run, this medal is just a sovenir. This is the second time i didn't run in a race i signed up. In one year, i didn't turn up for the Mizuno Wave run, because of a thunderstorm.

The organizer should make announcement on the PA system and update us on their plan. Most competitive runners (8km men & women) left when they learnt the race was cancelled. Not knowing they were supposed to collect the medal & a free hand-held water bottle. (they can collect the items at 2XU store at Marina Square from 22 Feb to 25 Feb), check facebook page for more updates.

Last year, i had joined the Newton 30km run organized by Pink Apple, there was slight rain before the race, and it started anyway. They can probably delay the race for 15-30 mins and before deciding what to do, the rain stopped at around 5:10pm. When the race was supposed to start at 4:45pm, they can combine both men & women together. However for safely reasons, it is definitely better to cancel as the route was wet & slippery, but they still proceed with the fun run. Given an ice-cream after the run, but no water, i didn't see the 100 plus, only drink when i reached home at around 8pm.

The organizer (Pink Apple Pte Ltd) should have free shuttle buses to the zoo, pick up point at MRT station, so it will not create this jam along Mandai (most runners taking cabs and parked their vehicles along the whole stretch of road)

This is the first time signing up for the race ($50), it will be my last too. Felt sick after the run, with slight fever, having a rest day today.

This evening, the organizer had send an apologise letter to all competitive runner, and I accepted it. As usual, just move on, there will always be another run.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 Race Review

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore Medal 2010

Medal showing CK Tang building at Orchard Road, Sentosa starting point for the half marathon runners and the Singapore flyer.

Completed my 5th full marathon on Sunday, finished with a personal best. I'm glad that I managed to cut around 30 mins off my 2009 timing and achieved a PB, with the goal of finally finishing a marathon under 5 hrs.

The race starts at 5am, wake up at 2:30 am had my breakfast at 3am. Left home at 3:30am, took a cab down to Orchard with 2 other friends. We are about 45mins before the start just went to the toilets in Orchard.

Standing under the Christmas lights at Orchard was wonderful, in the last 5 mins to the start time, the music Final Countdown was being played. Looking at the lights I recalled the training and the build up to this marathon, wishes my friend good luck, we start to walk towards the start line.

Sticking to my marathon pace everything was good, after running 4km into Chinatown area, saw the 5:15 official pacers in front, overtook them shortly. At around 8 km mark I saw the 5 hrs marathon pacers in front about 500m, overtook them.

A Caucasian runner dressed as superman shouted to the pacers "Is this the 4:45 pacers?"

One of the pacer replied " No, 5 hrs pacers, if you want to catch them you got to fly in front."

In order to run under 5 hrs, it is important not to let the 5:15 & 5 hrs pacers overtook me.

After running 12-13km, we moved into East Coast Park, I told myself to maintain my pace and survive this East Coast route (mentally I'm prepared as we had run in Newton 30km), 13km into the Park, come out at 28km (a big loop). At 14km, the medic provided deep heat, I applied on my right knees, it did help to ease some pain.

Along the way at 20 -22km, I met my friend Hong, catching up from behind, he told me he started 30mins late as his bib number was in the 6hrs pen, "good work, very good pace, keep going" we encouraged one other and he overtook me. Shortly I met my friend Adam at the East Coast Lagoon 23km, the one-armed runner (1armrunner.blogspot.com), he was struggling, we encouraged each other and I just moved ahead.

Seeing the 28km mark I survived the East Coast road, people around me are feeling the strain & stress. My pace slowed, however I continued running. 29km, 30km, 31km, looking forward to see the distance marker and knowing I'm closer to the finish....

At 30km upslope at the Marine Bay Golf course, my friend James run from behind and called me, he was in very good pace, we jog together for a while complaining of the weather, it was about 35 degrees now.. it is hard to run in this weather. But we pushed on and I tell him to go ahead.

31km, 32km, 33km, the distance marker was a welcoming sign now, was running for almost 4 hrs and I knew I can improve on my 2009 timing. There are still some strength in me, my knees are alright, the biggest discomfort was the hot weather. Finally reached 35km, finishing soon, been running for about 35km, the ambulance siren was all around me, that is the only sound I heard.

At 37 km we had to run uphill on the Sheares Brigde, this is it, just walked for the next 2km. The 10km & half-marathon runners blocked the whole lane, there is no way to carry on running now, I'm just too tired too. The 10km runners had just ran 5km, half marathon runners about 3-4km to finish when all of us reached the bridge creating a huge bottleneck, I had run for more than 35km, damn and now we are in this big jam. I saw suffering and pain around me, the super hot weather at around 10am was hard to bear, everyone had their heads down.

Finally upon seeing the 40km sign, I started to run again, but just 5 mins into the run my left thigh cramped. It was bad... walk for 5 mins or so and I carry on running. The finishing was near, today I will achieved a personal best.

Everyone was blocking my way. Both 10km & half marathon runners, I pushed my way, elbowed to the finish line.. 2km more.. and last 1km. Waka Waka was played near the finished line, you can hear the cheering (reminded me of Newton run), the final push and it was all over.

Crossed the finish line. VICTORY! DAMN 42.195km.

This will be my last full marathon in Standard Chartered, the race course is no longer good to run in my opinion. The orgainser was more interested to make a profit with increase participants rather than for us runners, an increase of 10k to 60k this year.

today's ST

"There's a lot of potential to grow this race. I think maybe 60,000 is not the limit" Teo Ser Luck, MCYS Senior Parliamentray Secratary, he ran in 10km.


"But so far so good. It was great weather, a great crowd and the mood was good, so it's been a wonderful morning." Comminity Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan who ran 10km.

The organiser will like to take into consideration of the followings for some improvements:

60k runners was definitely too large.

At 37km we had to run uphill at ECP and faced a bottleneck. For runners (full marathon) with bag deposit, they had to walk 2km to collect their bags at F1 pit. Full marathon runners walked 2km after finishing, while the others had their bags at the Padang (at the finish).This was poor planning.

Athens Classic Marathon 2010 Commemorative Medal

The golden ribbon with the distance printed from 1km to 42.195km, medal showing Phidippides running with a shield. With a shield?


On Friday, I received this commemorative medal via mail. In celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the legend of marathon. I had thought of going to Greece, Athens to run a marathon, a long trip there will include a few days of sight-seeing, a trip there was estimated to cost more than S$5,000.

This year 2010 will be a significant year to run a marathon no matter where we are. A celebration of the spirit of Phidippides.

A little booket with 8 pages on the history of marathon. Medal on a display stand. Actual color of the medal.

A picture of the The Athens Classic Marathon Medal 2010 (gold & silver)
Athens Classic Marathon Medal 2010

Newton Run 2010 Race Review

The finisher medal, both 18km and 30km runners received the same medal (similiar design as Malaysia Newton Run on 26 Sept 12km/25km), I thought they should at least differentiate the 2 race distance. Well the ribbon colour remains me of the flag of Thailand.

Running 3 rounds of 10km each, along the beach there was strong headwind in the early morning and it made us push harder, that was tough.

On Sunday morning, together with 5 of my running friends we completed the 30km run at East Coast Park. The cut off time for the race initially was 3:30 hrs for 30km, however the organizer decided to change it to 5:30 hrs just in Sept. The emcee announced that there were 3,500 runners for both race distance, however it looked less than that. Before the start of the race, my friend gave me a packet of power gel, which I intended to take at around 13-14km.

The race starts at 7am, it was drizzling (cool perfect weather) and I reminded myself to be careful of the wet ground. The participants in this race are mostly seasoned runners(signed up to meet the cut off time), once flag off, all these runners just push forward.

Started the race at a comfortable pace, slightly faster than what I did in training. At the 2nd water point around at around 4-5km (at the lagoon) I picked up 2 packets of gel at the water station. Finished the first 10km (round 1), I checked my time it was slightly more than 1hr, was running at a good pace. In the second round, I met up with my running mate Roland, and we ran together for most of the 2nd round, at 20km mark upon crossing the line at the check point, I checked my time it was 2 hrs 1 min, I told my friend Roland we are going out a bit fast, but he just maintained his pace while I started to slow down, pretty soon I lost sight of him.

The final round of 10km (after running 20km) was the most challenging, my longest training run had been around 19km. At around 23km, was starting to feel the strain, my legs are alright (just a bit tired by now), no problem with my knees, so I looked at my watch again and knew that I can probably finish the race within 3hrs or so.. to get another PB. Popped the 3rd packet of gel before the lagoon, guess it was more of a psychological effect, thinking you are energised by the gel...I kind of slow down more in the final round, trying to maintain the pace I wanted.

In the last 3-4km towards the end, started to pick up some speed, I knew I was the last to finished in our group, at the last 2km, I maintained a good pace. Finally crossed the line in relief, finished the 30km run ... a true test of strength, stamina, endurance and speed. Crossed the line in 3 hrs 7 mins. Was happy with my time, gave my best, at least I didn't walk apart from drinking at the water stations.

Well, at the finish I took 2 cans of 100-plus, given an ice-cream and a wet towel (kind of refreshing).. with some ice, I used the towel to cool down..

The fastest time acheived by my friend was 2 hrs 25 mins, followed by 2hrs 45 mins, 2hrs 47 mins and Roland was 3 hrs 6 mins (he was 58 years old). Another friend finished in 3 hrs 20 mins. A good race with everyone getting a Personal Best.

This is a small scale race, the participants are manageable, however I can tell that there are a shortage of volunteers at the water stations. There wasn't any cheering group along the route, apart from the 30-40 people cheering at the finish line. Anyway a good race.

Till the next race. The next largest event will be the full marathon in December, and it was less than 2 months away.

Great day at the pool

Mika-Jah Teah (third from top) and Sima Weah (bottom) in the boys' 50m freestyle heats. -- PHOTO: SPH-SYOGOC/MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN

Following the earlier post on the YOG Lesotho swimmer, here is another interesting article, it is amazing for these 2 Liberians.

LIBERIANS Sima Weah and Mika-Jah Teah, who usually train in a river, experienced a swimming pool for the first time yesterday when they competed at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The pair took part in the boys' 50m freestyle heats and finished 24 seconds behind the fastest qualifiers.

Just being here is an achievement, with the duo having boarded their first airplane for a 12,000km trip that took them from Liberia to Ghana, then through Kenya and Dubai to Singapore.

'We swim in the open river,' said Mika-Jah. 'This is my first time in a pool.'

Liberia, wracked for years by civil war that ruined infrastructure and left the economy in tatters, has competed in 10 Summer Olympics but only in athletics and boxing.

Sima and Mika-Jah are the first athletes to represent their country internationally in swimming.

The 17-year-olds train in the Rockspring Valley River near Liberia's capital Monrovia, where they often have to deal with aquatic life such as crabs and fish - which they catch as they swim.

Sima was impressed but not overawed when he first saw the facilities at the Singapore Sports School.

'I felt encouraged,' he said. 'I was not scared. There was no fear.

'I was hoping to win, but I am just happy that I came here with my friends.'

Their coach Steven Weah, Sima's uncle, is a Fina-certified coach who first introduced his nephew to the sport.

'We don't even have a pool in Liberia,' he said. 'I am proud of them because this is their first appearance in international competition.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

18 Aug

Rainer Ng has created Singapore sporting history by winning the Republic's first swimming medal at the Youth Olympic Games.

The 18-year-old finished second in the Boys' 50m backstroke final at the Singapore Sports School this evening in 26.45sec, just 0.09sec slower than winner Christian Homer of Trinidad and Tobago (26.36sec).

Singapore has now won three medals at the YOG. Prior to Rainer's win, the Republic won already garnered bronzes in taekwondo from Nurual Shafinas Abdul Rahman and Daryl Tan.

Singapore's 1st medal

Singapore had won the first YOG medal today, a bronze.

Taekwondo exponent Daryl Tan created Singapore sporting history this afternoon by becoming the Republic's first medal-winner at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The 17-year-old Raffles Institution (Junior College) student, clinched the bronze medal in the Boys 55kg competition after winning his quarter-final bout.

Here is a clip on the birth of the YOG medal. Setsuko FUKUZAWA from Japan is the grand prize winner of the Medal Design Competition. Her project has been chosen by the IOC jury as the winning medal design for the first ever Youth Olympic Games

Sundown Marathon 2010 (29 May)

Running tag and D-tag for timing.

The medal is thinner as compared to previous years.
Men's Open 21.1km ranking - 254/3301 (9 Jun 2010)

Last Saturday took part in the half-marathon night race at the adidas Sundown Marathon 2010. Finally, I achieved a personal best timing of 2:06:14, the 5th attempt in 7 years.

Before running this race, my best timing was in Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2004, a time of 2:09:09. In SCSM 2006 half, ran 2:13:44. In 2008 SCSM half, a time of 2:13:14. In 2009 SAFRA Army Half Marathon (a tougher race running up the expressway) finished in 2:18:29. After 4 attempts, I was destined to run 2hrs 14 mins for a half marathon... So I tried to take advantage of this race, with a starting time at 9pm (though the air was hot & humid), but at least there isn't any heat from the sun.

With 3 of my running friends, Martin, 40 yrs old (best time this year in 1 hr 36 mins, was placed 19), Chin, 53 yrs old (finished in 1:58). Roland, 58 yrs old (finished in 2:02), he encouraged me when we met at 16km mark, where I was leading him.. shortly he overtook me, this made me determined to give a final push, maintaining my pace towards the finish (at average 6 mins pace). My inspiration came from my friends, despite being older in age, they are superb runners always running with deep passion.

A great race for everyone, we had our photos taken by an appointed photographer after the race, followed by a deserved night snack of "Indian prata", it was almost 2am. Hopefully in the next half-marathon, I have the chance to improve my timing again, it is not going to be easy but not totally impossible.

Race Review:

This is my 3rd Sundown marathon, in 2008 I ran the full marathon, at that time the total participants was probably less than 5k, a niche race in my opinion, the full marathon sign up was just around 4.5k. From my records, 3,599 men and 861 women completed the full. For 84km race, just a few hundred runners. The race was manageable back then, but recently it seems the organizer are getting their hands tied.

Has making more Money the main factor? More than 19k runners this year, an increase of 8k plus as compared to 2009. How was the logistic, transportation and manpower being planned? In the area of bag deposit, entertainment and wider running route, it was good planning. As usual credits to all the volunteers, they are the biggest plus point in this race. With limited resources and manpower, the volunteers did a wonderful job.

As I travelled to the location by car, it was very smooth along the way. But considering the majority of runners depended on the race day feeder buses (learnt that there was about 10 buses catered for the event), it was a huge disappointment, together with complaints from lack of drinks at each water point. From all the posts on Facebook Sundown Marathon, it sounds like a nightmare for most people.

The organizer will have to look into the complaints and improve... else runners won't bother to sign up next year, the race fees are not cheap (increasing every year) in the first place. I had experienced bad races in Mizuno Wave Runs (first 2 years) and understand the frustration even after the race, hopefully runners can forget about this and look forward to their next race. Good luck & enjoy your runs :)

Earlier post in Feb:
Medal Collections till 2009

North East Run 16 km (14 Mar 2010)

First race of the year... liked the cute cartoons.
RESULTS OUT TODAY (16 Mar)
Ranked in 434/1585 runners.

Back of the medal..
Race tag and medal, comes with red & white ribbon.

North East run 16km from google map. (14 Mar)

This morning NE run 16km location was at Pasir Ris, my first race of the year, it starts at 6:45am. Before the run, I knew that there will be a couple of overhead bridges. So, during training runs, I incorporated overhead bridges, the longest run was just 8 km with 2 overhead bridges.

The gun starts off at 6:45am, watching my pace by not going too fast at the beginning, pretty soon along the route, there was the 1st overhead bridge, it was up slope, it was not too tedious for me. Followed shortly was the second overhead bridge, climbed up the stairs feeling strong. After crossing 2 overhead bridges, was the 5 km markings, I looked at my watch, 30 mins.

At 10 km mark, after closing the 3rd overhead bridges (with staircases), my stop watch was 1hr 1 mins. We ran inside the campus of Temasek Polytechinc, took my time to enjoyed the nice buildings, and popped a power gel.

At around 13-14 km, the sun was out and started to feel the heat. It was like running towards the sun, and my face felt like burning for a while. I decided to pick up my pace, after crossing a total of 6 overhead bridges, it was near the end of the race ... in the last 1.5km keeping my pace constant, met a fellow Malay runner without his right arm in front of me, was motivated and admired his courage and grit, I decided to keep up with him, maintained eye contact as we run side-by-side, gave him a smile as a form of encourgement. I surged pass him shortly and crossed the finished line. My watch shows 1hr 32 mins, am satisfied with today's run.

Collected the goodie bag, the medal.. and was given a free ice-cream of berry favor! Wow... so having an ice-cream while doing my warming down... do not know if this was advisable, anyway I think I deserved it as a small reward after a tough run.

Walked towards the train station and came across a stable ... here are some pictures taken with my camera phone..

2 ponies and a few horses. Picture taken using 2MP handphone.

The stable in the area.

Thanks for reading, the next post coming up shortly this week will be my 1st LEGO review. Have a good week..

My late coach was an Olympian....

Former Singapore Olympian Tan Eng Yoon dies in road accident By Dylan Loh,
Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 30 January 2010 1550 hrs SINGAPORE :

Former Singapore sprinter Tan Eng Yoon died in a road accident on Saturday morning. He was 82. The President of the Singapore Olympians Association helped oversee the National Stadium's construction as a sports administrator. Mr Tan was General Secretary of the Football Association of Singapore in the 1990s. He represented the country at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the triple jump and 100-metre sprint. In 1959, he won Singapore's first medal, in the 400-metre hurdles, at the inaugural South-East Asian Peninsular Games, the pre-cursor to the present-day SEA Games. He also won the triple jump gold and his national record for this event stood for 32 years. As National Track and Field coach in the 1960s and 1970s, Mr Tan also nurtured athletes like sprint king C Kunalan.

Full Report


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I remember this gentleman, it was back in 1993 or 94, can't remember the exact year. Back then, I was doing my diploma at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, once there was a track & field trial run conducted by Mr Tan himself on the campus stadium. I took part in a couple of runs, in 100M and probably 200M. Of course, I was not selected.... I am not a talented runner, lacking both strength and speed, was never a sprinter.

In the late evening after training, the small group will stay in a room with Mr Tan watching video tapes on running tactics, ways to improve and become a better runner, he will brief us after the show ends. I attended a few lessons both on the running track and in the TV room for the next couple of weeks until the lesson plan ended, I guess he didn't find the talent he was looking for in the polytechnic. He left a deep impression on me - a well-manner, sincere, kind and patience man. Even we were not selected, he had coached us for a short period.

I never met him again after I finished my diploma and was enlisted for national service, graduated and started working. It was only when he passed away in an accident, I learnt about his background. He was a humble man - an Olympian and a real champion.

Sports Hero - Mr Tan Eng Yoon

Started running a few years after finishing my National Service, signed up for the 10km run in 2003 (started medal collection). 7 years later, I'm still running, and intended to participate in a few races every year. Thank you Mr Tan, you are my first coach.

4 full marathon medals