July 13, 2008
Update by REDintern Danial Azmie. Photos by Danial Azmie and Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Friday, July 11, 2008 - Clara Poon Jia Xin of Cedar Girls’ clinched the C Division Girls 400 Metres title with a time of 1 minute 0.48 seconds, almost a second ahead of her nearest rival. More significantly, the time also beat the meet and national C Division Girls record set way back in 1977 by Munirah Alatas, prompting observers to take notice of her blooming talent despite her relatively young age.
She finished the race with such aplomb that we had to get a word or two from her regarding her performance, which she sportingly obliged. When prodded regarding her opinion of the run, the delicately dainty runner remarked: “I was training for the record, and before the race, I thought I could do it.”
She managed to overcome the 61 second barrier which had been her stumbling block all this year and to that she opined: “You have to be strong mentally and I’m grateful to my school for giving us the opportunity to train in Thailand recently. This certainly caused a level of improvement. I’d also like to thank my coaches Qi Jiaorian, Joel Tay and also my parents for the support.”
Indeed, budding athletes like Clara Poon do need all the support they can get in order to achieve their dreams. It is definitely heartening to see support extended by both school and family.
Final Result:
400 Metres C-Girls
1st- Clara Poon Jia Xin (Cedar Girls) 01:00.48 (Event & C-Div Record)
2nd- Nur Hamizah (Singapore Sports School) 01:01.26
3rd -Wendy Enn (Singapore Sports School) 01:01.80
Rant 5:57 AM of Azmie
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