Thursday, September 15, 2016

An Interview With Coach Rameshon -Sub - 2hours 24min 22 sec (Part 1)

Note:

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 Saranniya

Sub - 2hr 24min 22sec mission starts now. 


(Left to Right) Evan Chee (3rd), Ruben (2nd) Coach Rameshon, Coach Saravanan and Dr Ansgar Cheng (Champion) for POSB Run 2016


All along, when Coach Rameshon starts to train hard, I used to tell him that he has already achieved everything that he wanted, especially breaking the national record in Singapore and also in qualifying for the Olympics. It is for the youngsters to go for it!

On top of that, he also has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the famed Loughborough University of Technology, where he studied Physical Education and Sports Science (1992-1994). In the Year 2008, he finally finished his Masters in Education at the reputed University of Western Australia. In that year, as a teacher-coach, he was instrumental in winning the National Schools Cross - Country and Track and Field 'A' Division, for under 18 years of age for Hwa Chong Institution (College Section)in his lifetime. Overall, he has 12 National Schools' Cross - Country Titles. He was instrumental in getting 10 titles for National Track and Field Championships for Hwa Chong Institution.

Having said that, I felt that there is no need to prove oneself if one has achieved. He told me that it is important to keep oneself fit and healthy throughout life. Hence, he kept fit all the way until now, and I have evidenced this all the time. During his own time, he will independently do fitness work when needed. Moreover, I have seen him really running and exercising during the personal training sessions. 

At the same time, I was able to come down in weight from 60kg to 42kg by four years, which enabled me to win the second overall position in National School Cross - Country Race for under 17 years of age for girls, last year. our fellow Flexifitness athlete Mariviv Tan came in fourth overall in the 3.5km race. 


Flexifitness Athletes in POSB Run 2016


Recently, a few months back, Coach Rameshon told me that without Ashley Liew (who has a personal best of 2hour 32min for New Orleans Marathon 2015) here, we do not have anyone doing a real sub-40min for 10km. Knowing this, with a team of dedicated athletes like Dr Benny Goh, Jensen, Thow Wee, Andreas, Brian Ye, Ruben, Evan, Yogaraj, Darren, and not forgetting the Dr Ansgar, he worked hard to enable them to do a sub-40min. It was because of this that Coach Rameshon stopped serious running for some time. Currently, as the dream has been realised, when Evan Chee won the third position in Stanchart Marathon 2015 and when Colin came in 4th overall for men open category, he is rethinking again to train hard. Recently, five of our runners ran and did sub - 39min for POSB 10km Run. All top five individual athletes in the race were from Flexifitness. In the race, Dr Ansgar Cheng, 50, from Specialist Dental Group, came in first with a net time of 37min 00sec. It was a very big achievement for us. 

That marked the day of there are many who can do sub-40min easily. As such, Coach Rameshon has finally decided to run not for fitness alone but for performance as well. However,  this time it is not to win anything but to challenge himself with his own time - the 2hr 24min 22sec. After winning the 2008 Stanchart Marathon in Singapore, he was going for the 2hr 24min 22sec time. He did 52min 30sec in Singapore for 15km, one month before the Stanchart Marathon 2009, but he got injured in the process and took three years to get out of it. 

After the successful POSB race, where our top 8 runners were positioned in top 14, with four ladies coming in top 13 in the women open category, plus five kids getting overall top 8 positions in the POSB Run 2016, Coach Rameshon told me that it is fun to challenge the 2hr 24min 22sec which he missed out earlier on. 

I have given an interview and have got his exhaustive and detailed answers. For the benefit of readers, I will put it up soon. So, watch for it!


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.