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 Marcel Sng
Singapore Bay Run 2014
Coach Rameshon and I were at the start line before the race. There were pacers in front of the runners and seeded runners from Army right in front of the pacers, It would have been better if the race pacers are placed in different pens spread out from the front to the back of the race, as in international races. Pacers also could have stood 20 metres away apart with a balloon or something for that allows for higher visibility for people to run with so that they can attain the time they want. The MC informed the public to look out for people with orange singlet for visibility. This is actually disadvantageous as it defeats the purpose of running with the pacers.
Our runner, Lim Thow Wee came early and sat right in front. Thow Wee had a time of 2hr 48min 49sec for Paris Marathon in April this year. He ended up being blocked by about 100 runners right in front of him even though he was about 10 meters behind the start line. I hope the organisers can do something about this; it is about time to come up with a 'pen', where runners are placed according to the timing. This is standard practice worldwide and runners can, in fact, get good timing by the organisers doing this.
Anyway, our runners did fairly well in the race as all did a time of sub-2hrs. This is a good sign for us as it also involves women as well. The timings are unofficial and are given below, according to our watch.
1hr 23min 30sec Lim Thow Wee
1hr 28min 50sec Colin Chua
1hr 29min 17sec Kenny
1hr 34min 30sec Jensen
1hr 35min 00sec Jonathan
1hr 51min 00sec Wang Yan
1hr 51min 50sec Szerk
1hr 59min 22sec Jennifer Q.
Coach Rameshon has already told the group that even if they improve the half-marathon time, it is not going to improve their half marathon timing as significantly as compared to the 5km time trials. Overall, the runners have improved in 5km and not the half-marathon and marathon timing.
Wang Yan and Kenny, however, did a personal best time in their first Army Half Marathon run. They ran the race very well. Kenny and Wang were able to sprint past many runners, the home stretch. Kenny has shown that as a Vegan he can still run competitively.
Other Flexifitness athletes have also run the race, we will put it up soon. But first, we want to interview Kenny and Wang Yan for their great performance.
We saw the first runner and believed him to be an African runner, maybe a Kenyan runner running with a time of about 1hr 05min.
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.
