SST's 2nd Annual Track and Field Meet

On 31^st August 2011, SST held it’s 2^nd Annual Track and Field Meet. The meet, held at the Clementi stadium, started off with the flag-rising and the recitation of the Athletes Oath under the lead of Eugene. All the students were standing according to their classes before being dispersed into their respective houses and the competitors for the events held on that day. 

A representative from each of the 5 houses ran in the torch relay with a genuine Olympic Torch, ending off with the representative from the red house, last year’s champion for the inter-house competition, to light the cauldron. Just before the lighting of the cauldron, a party popper  bursting had taken everyone by surprise, lifting the mood of the school. Mr Chua Chor Huat, principal of SST, released the first pistol shot with a loud bang, kicking off SST’s 2^nd annual track and field meet. 

This year, there were quizzes announced in between the events for the school to response to. In order to submit their answers, the participants are required to send their answer to a number within 7 minutes and the fastest one with the correct answer was the winner. Among the quizzes, quiz question 3 and 6 were meant only for teachers and parents. 

The first event that took place was the 100m boys finals, followed by the 100m girls finals. Niklaus Teo (Red House) from 209 emerged as champion for the 100m boys final while Valery Tan (Black House) from 107 won the girls’ finals. Next up was the 800m Boys final with Jing Heng (Red House) from 208 as the champion. Prizes for the completed events including the field events and quiz winners was presented to the respective winners as they took to their places on the position podium after the first few events. 

The events commenced right after the prize presentation with the 200m boys final, 200m girls final and 400m boys final. Once again , Niklaus from 209 clinched the champion for the 200m boys event, with Yan Jin (Red House) from 203 winning the 200m girls and lastly, Kim Allen from 103 winning the 400m boys finals. Proceeding, the spectators were engaged in the Inter-House Game as each of the house groups have to keep the beach ball up in the air for as long as possible. 

After that Inter-House Game, the relay races began. The first two relay races that took place were the 4 X 100m Girls Final and 4 X 100m Boys Final. The red house team won the girls final and the yellow house clinching the champion for boys final after the disqualifying of the black and red house, where a runner had stepped out of the line. 

What’s up next? The games for the teachers have started! The teachers were required to bit on a straw and transfer a bunch of rubber bands from one end to the other for the first part of the games, followed by the teachers securing their shoes on hard plastic board with raffia strings, forming a line and do the “caterpillar” walk together to cross the finishing line. for the second part of the games. All the students crowded around the teachers and joined in the fun by cheering their teachers on. Finally, after the stumbles and tangles, the teachers made it to the finishing line. 

Next up, the relay races continue. The relay events were the 4 X 400m girls finals, 4 X 400m boys final and the Parent-Teacher-Staff 4 X 100m relay. For the 4 X 400m girls final, the Black House relay team clinched the championship, beating the Red House relay team by just 2 seconds! For the 4 X 400m boys final, the Red House relay team clinched the championship once again. And lastly, for the Parent-Teacher-Staff, Red House clinched championship. 

As the end of the meet was drawing closer, the winners of the inter-house competition were announced. Mr Lam Hin Chew took the microphone and invited Mr Chua to present the trophies. Mr Lam started by announcing the 3^rd place winner, which was Green House. Green House members cheered for their house as the House Captain of Green House went up the the podium and received the third place trophy from Mr Chua. 

Next up, Mr Lam announced the 2^nd place winner, which was Blue House. Louder cheers were heard from the Blue House members as their house captain went up to the podium and received the second place trophy. 

Finally, the tension is high as Mr Lam was about to announce the first place winners. Finally, Mr Lam announced the first place winners, which were Red House. Loud cheers erupted from the members and the House Captain went up to the podium and accepted the trophy from Mr Chua. 

At last, Mr Chua took the mic, gave a speech and officially ended the meet. 

Interviews with some of the winners:

Ho Yan Jin, Red House, 203. 

Question: How many trophies did you win? 

Answer: I won 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze. 

Question: How do you feel after getting all these achievements?

Answer: Actually, before the race, I was very nervous as I wasn’t very confident for the run, so I was just hoping for the best. I don’t think that it’s the achievements that you get that matters, I think it’s the running. I find running very fun. So it’s just competing with your friends and even if you lose, you know where you stand so you know where you could improve better. 

Question: What is one word that you would use to describe the whole event?

Answer: Meaningful.

4 X 400m Girls Relay, Black House Team. 

Question: Did you win? (Before the official results were out) 

Answer: We are not sure we won. We just randomly formed a team and took part in this relay for fun. We didn’t expect to win.  

House Captain of Red House, Chio Jia Le, 209. 

Question: How do you feel after Red House won the inter-house competition once again?

Answer: I feel that we kind of expected Red House to win again. However, we did not let our guard down and held regular training for our individual events. 

Question: How would you ensure Red House wins the championship again next year?

Answer: As we are going to have 2 categories for next year, I will make sure each category’s competitors train hard for their event. And thus, we are guaranteed to win again next year. 

Red House 4 X 100m Parent-Teacher-Staff relay team. 

Question: How do you feel after the race? 

Answer: Quite tiring as I have not been running for a long time. (Mr Irfan) 

Question: Was there any goal(s) you wanted to achieve before you ran the race? 

Answer: The only goal was to have fun, not to win. 

Question: How well do you guys think you fared as a team? 

Answer: I think we did quite alright, despite the fact that we didn’t train at all. 






Article and interview done by: Mavis (101) and Genevieve. (104)