LTC Kesavan Soon's Contribution - Former Vice President (1980s and 1990s)

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 Murugiah Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Picture 1 - LTC (Retired) Kesavan Soon (Behind, in the middle)

In the early 1990s, N. Ganesan went through 2 coaches before coming to me for training and his coaches were my friends as well. The former had a time of 16min 46sec for 5km. Knowing this, Ganesan came to me to improve his time. 

In four months time, using time off from SAFSA, as a hockey player,  Ganesan, also trained very hard in running. He had to double up. He kept training consistently. He was made to do intensive workouts by me in the late evenings and he did 15min 41sec for Singapore Open 1992, while I did 15min 31sec. 

I tried my best to get Ganesan time off to train by writing to his army unit etc but it was to no avail. We can see that this is a problem even now with athletes in Singapore. The real talented athletes are not able to come out of the army, and it needs ironing out. This is also why Singapore's 5km standard, as a whole, is very low compared to many parts of the world, even until now. 

The races are also not structured well in Singapore - road races and cross country as well. Very few races are organised well such that the public can benefit from the race. A number of times talented athletes are omitted from very important races by lack of encouragement in the registration process for races. 

We need people like LTC (Retired) Kesavan Soon, who does not know N. Ganesan much but was supportive such that the latter, later on, did 14min 57sec for 5km, and was able to break the 15min barrier. The first one to do it. 

Hence, we need people, who not just giving lips service that they will help when they come to power. Instead, when coming to power, they actually forget their role to make things transparent and ensure a fair competition for all. Transparency has been a problem in Singapore Athletics and it is time that something needs to be done. 

I was told by some in Singapore on why the standard will not come up. A parent told me that in swimming his daughters had fair competition and that things are transparent and there are fair rules.  However, he found that in athletics things are not transparent enough. Internal scrutiny is very important as there may be favouritism going on. 

As a Vice President of Singapore Athletics, LTC (Retired) Kesavan Soon will always be remembered and cherished and we hope that other leaders also follow suit. We hope that they do not just cling to power and only are looking forward to people to praise them but to do one's work properly and help the appropriate, fit and the correct athlete to go for overseas competition by organising a fair competition. 

Organising a good race in Singapore is becoming a dream. To see good competition in Singapore is like seeing a unicorn in real life. It is becoming an impossible thing. We just hope that people in an authoritative position do something to raise the standard of Singapore Athletics.


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.

Injury - When in doubt, consult or pull out.

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 Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Picture 1 - When in doubt, consult or don't do it1

I wrote about the 2008 Stanchart Marathon, held in Singapore, in Flexifitness.com.sg website. It was a year that Dr Ben Tan, Daniel Ling and I came in 3rd, 2nd and first in men open category, respectively. 

My progress was very good for that year, but I knew that I would not be able to do a 2hr 34min 02sec, which I did in Singapore International Marathon 1994. Daniel Ling, my former colleague that I was training, was sometimes getting an injury and he was visiting Dr Ben Tan at that time. While training, as training mates, we did not know who is going to be first, second and third for Stanchart Marathon 2008.  Here, I feel that it is good for me to share something that I did that enabled me to get the 2hr 49min for 2008 Stanchart Marathon.

I am sharing this as there is a lesson to learn still, especially on the art of not getting an injury. I had planned for 6 workouts for the Stanchart Marathon 2008. All went well and there was no injury. However, I had some sensation coming from my achilles tendon for the very last workout, 10 days just before the race itself. The good thing is that the achilles tendon problem came at the very last minute and I had sensation and I was pondering on what to do. Finally, I told myself that it is good to stretch and warm-up and see how the pain in the achilles tendon is going to be. 

Just before the last workout of Stanchart Marathon, I decided to back out. I believe that it is advisable to follow this and if one is in doubt, it is wise to do away with the workout, and do other forms of training which can alternate the training, without compromising getting injured. 

The fortunate thing was that I was able to converse with Dr Ben Tan, as he was himself an orthopaedic surgeon. I asked him," Is it good to miss the last workout." I thought he will say a no. Opposite to what I was thinking, he told me that what I could do is to look at the sensation. If the sensation is the same during the steady run, it is all right to run. But if the sensation keeps going up, he told me to pull out during the run itself. 

Taking his suggestion, I ran the tempo 15km and I did about a 55min plus, while Daniel did 56min. Dr Ben Tan did 59min, which was a personal best for him. Miraculously, I found that the sensation was not there after 2km. It vanished during the run and even after the run. I got only Dr Ben Tan to thank as I could not have done the 15km tempo without his advice. 

As some of us have no advisors, it is wise to pull out from injury. Else, one might not be able to run on the day itself. My two cents worth to 'when in doubt' is to pull out of the workout or not to do the training, but find alternative ways to train, which may prevent an impending injury which is about to appear shortly. One can do the workout on another day, instead, when one finds that it is safe to do the tempo, by ensuring that there is no gradual increase in the sensation during the run.


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.