Pubz Comm Reporter: Jason Lun Leung
An inspiring report, for an inspiring sport…
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KE road relay guys had been training hard for this day. Our team was heavily reliant on seniors who had already experienced it all in the previous years. Ma Rong, Kumaran and Terence had already been part of the much celebrated KE team which had ranked third last year, and, luckily for us, were willing to give it their all for the hall again for this IHG. Kelvin, Yong Jun and Yannick had stepped up to make up the rest of the team. The KE guys assembled at the car park at around five, and went through the preparations for the actual race together. After careful consideration, the team lined up as follows: Kelvin, Ma Rong, Kumaran, Yong Jun, Terence and Yannick.
I was watching the event from at the Central Library slope. After receiving news that the first runners had been flagged off, the anxious wait for their appearance at the bottom of the slope began. Some time passed and the first runner, from Temasek hall, appeared closely followed by the yellow of Eusoff. Then, a nervous few seconds elapsed before the next runner came into view round the bend. The red jersey of Kelvin was an extremely uplifting sight. We were all relieved and happy to see that we were still in the race and only trailing the top two by a small distance. On seeing Kelvin, the red supporters started shouting words of encouragement.
Cheering the runners is one of the ways of acknowledging how hard this particular event is on the body and mind, and, in this respect, cross campus race is slightly different from other IHG sports: you cheer every runner passing by to support him/ her through this exhausting process even if he/ she is from another hall. The sight of somebody toiling his way upslope brings about respect even if that person is from another hall. It was nice to see people lined up along the sides of the road egging every runner on, irrespective of his hall.
It takes around 4 minutes to actually run to the start of the slope. By the time one reaches this point, one is already starting to tire, but still needs to will oneself up this punishing slope. People who have never tried this route can find it hard to visualize how hard running it in such insane timings is, but one should try to picture the lactic acid in the legs, the gasping breaths and the mental struggle required to complete this in 8 minutes or less. Road relay really is one hell of a race to run, and it truly requires all of your focus to push yourself all the way to the finish.
Thus, this year’s race was full of emotions for the KE supporters. The determined look on Kelvin’s face as he chased the two from TH and EH and the calm, assured striding of the veterans Ma Rong and Kumaran inspired respect and excitement in the KE people. As Kumaran finished his lap, we were still well placed in third position. However, Yong Jun faced strong race opponents and, despite his best efforts, KE was fifth by the end of the fourth round.
With Terence and Yannick left to catch up, the rest of the race was going to be a nerve- wracking experience. They were our best two, but some doubts still lingered over whether they could catch up with the rest. As Terence controlled his race and calmly gained ground on the fourth team, he overtook the Raffles guy and pulled KE one rank higher just before releasing Yannick as our last runner.
The last lap was quite demoralizing as far as the supporters on the Central Library slope were concerned. We saw three of the other halls pass by before Yannick appeared round the bend. He pushed himself to the limit and managed to win us the third position by clocking in at 7’ 39 (he beat his personal best by 20+ seconds), to the extreme joy of the KE supporters who had assembled at the car park.
The KE guys had, against all odds, repeated last year’s heroics and ranked third overall. Yes, we had been quite lucky. But the point remains that they trained hard enough and were there to seize whatever luck threw their way. This result would not have been possible without the excellent training sessions conducted in the months before the actual race day.
After giving their all to win this rank, the guys were understandably overjoyed, and celebrations were ecstatic. We had bettered the timings set before the race by several seconds. With sheer perseverance, we had managed to hold our ground against the other hall teams packed with IVP players. This was a truly memorable event, and, as such, I would like to congratulate the KE guys’ road relay team.
Thanks to Kelvin, who proved a fantastic captain, motivating everybody through all the tough trainings and successfully building a nice team of runners.
Thanks also to the seniors who did not need to run, but offered their help, trained intensively and gave wise advice. I hope their passion and love for this event has inspired several others to take their lead and try their best to contribute to KE.
Long live KE VII road relay team!!!
To finish off this report, just two quotes which I heard from people who competed in this sport where motivation plays such a strong part:
“All the way!”
“Every second counts.”
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