Monday, August 22, 2011

73rd Singapore Open Track and Field Championship 2011



We witnessed the 73rd Singapore Open over the weekend with 36 teams - ( foreign and local ) participating. It has been a long while since we enjoyed the crowd filling up the stadium for both days. The Championship was held in Bukit Gombak Stadium for 2 full days. The appearance of the stadium looks quite different this time, with decorated flower pots and nice tentage. They also hired a DJ to provide music for the whole event.

The Singapore Masters also participated in the event. I've never been to the Master Track and Field meet before and this time, it was an eye opener for me to see our veteran runners competing. This is also very motivating for our younger athletes as the veterans displayed their determination and passion for the sport.

Republic Poly sent a small team to prepare for the upcoming POLITE games in October. A small team was sent to expose themselves to the competition atmosphere as most of them were first timer in Athletics. We saw improvements from previous results and we are eager and hungry to achieve more.

The weather was not on our side, it was a wet weather on Saturday where it was raining for the whole afternoon. Nikita ran her 400m heats in the rain and was made to wait for 4-5mins in the rain before the race started. Despite the difficulties that she faced, she managed to trash her PB by a second, and crossed the line with a time of 59.08s.

The Association also promised to award anyone who can break the Singapore Open record for $500.00. The Japanese 110m men's Hurdler - Iida Masayuki from Japan did 13.93s (0.2m/s) broke the championship record and earned himself a $500.00! The previous record was also set by a Japanese, Hideki Nomoto with the time of 14.11s back in 2007. This is also a new initiative by the SAA, giving away cash prizes to motivate and encourage better performances.

The next competition coming up will be the POLITE, 2 more months of preparation before we see the under 23 age group competing among themselves. It will be a crucial 3 months for those preparing for the SEA Games, stay healthy, fresh, positive and injury free!!

0 comments: