If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By R. Saranniya
https://www.facebook.com/flexifitness.runningcoachsg
The two Ministers, Mr Chan Chun Sing (extreme left) and Ms Indranee Thurai Rajah (middle) in the red and white t-shirt taking a group photo with Team Flexifitness
After coming in 4th in POSB Run 2013 in women open, I was looking forward to run in the Mizuno Mt Faber 10km Run. I have done 48min 10sec for the GPS measured distance of 10.3km POSB Run 2013.
I took my shower and came out of the toilet and it was already 6am. Quickly, my mother, brother and my sister gathered together in our house at 6 15pm and we started to make our way to the Mizuno Run 2013 start line.
Since I did not train, because of my exams, I decided to take this run not seriously. I was aiming for a 55min run for this Mt Faber Mizuno Run 2013. My mother and brother did not run and they came to support me in the race. Both of them went to the start point by themselves while Mr and Mrs Rameshon came to fetch me below my house to go to the start point of the run. My sister went to pick up my Emma Oh.
When I went there, I was relieved to see the place so easily. I could easily see the Start point of the 10km race. The Finish point was also the same place.
I reached the place at 6 50pm near block 122 and 123 of Bukit Merah View. The start point was at the open end car-park. Many people gathered there and the place had about 20 to 25 cubicles of mobile toilets.
It was not so crowded and it was easy to walk around the place. From the environment, I realised that there were a lot of people in the race but we could be comfortable to find our car, friends, etc. It was well spaced. Hence, I know that there is a limit to the race entry which made us enjoy this race.
At the car park, we saw Mr and Mrs Tan Eng Howe and his daughter by the name of Anja. We left the 4th storey of the car-park and went down near the start line to do our stretching. Some of the stretchings were our own. Once finished, we went to the start point of the race and waited for the Guest of Honour to flag us off.
It was a 15 min wait. There was no pushing to the start and I was happy with this. I was in fact near the start and the crowd of athletes behaved very well.
Just before the start of the race, the MPs, four of them, full-heartedly shook their hands with us and told us good luck.
We were appreciative of this gesture. I was thinking of the sacrifice that these four MPs are doing to come for the race to flag us off, taking away their rest period that they should be taking after Monday to Saturday of working. Inwardly, I was having my gratitude to them for their support for this race.
As the race was flag off by the MPs, I ran in such a manner that I was taking it easy.
At the 2.5km mark, I was feeling very thirsty and took a drink. At somewhere around the 3.6km to 3.7km, we had to go up Mt Faber. That was the point that I found it very hard to run. I was running 700m up the hill and faced another challenge, which was to go up a steep slope of another 500m to 600m upslope. I stopped during the race and felt very lethargic.
Once up, I was feeling very good after some time, I decided to run all the way with our Flexifitness athlete by the name of Benjamin. He paced me and finally at the last 150m, I saw Coach Rameshon who was cheering for me. He told me that there was 150m left. At this point, in fact, I was very tired. I gave my best and I did a time of 53min plus.
I realised that Mok Ying Rong came in first in the women open while Vivien Tang came in first in Women Veteran's section. The first position for Men Veteran went to Tony Seakens, while Coach Rameshon came in 5th position for the category of the race.
Picture 2 - Despite not training much, Coach Rameshon came in 5th in Men Veteran 45 years and above which was won by Tony Seakens
We waited for Coach Rameshon to collect his 5th position prize worth $100 for his race from the MP and Minister Ms Indranee Thurai Rajah. We took some photos with her later with our Team Flexifitness and then went for our breakfast at a nearby Bukit Merah food stall.
Coach Rameshon told us that since we had to take our exams, our performance will be down and he motivated us not to be affected by the race result.
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
