Jeevanesh S/O Soundararajah - SINDA Excellence Award (held on 25/09/2010) recipient and also Singapore's upcoming versatile middle and long distance runner
Pic 1 - S. Jeevanesh has fearlessness in leading the race right from the start. So far, in all races ran this year, he has delivered.
Pic 1 - S. Jeevanesh has fearlessness in leading the race right from the start. So far, in all races ran this year, he has delivered.
Picture 2 - S. Jeveenesh, standing on the left hand side of his hero Chamkaur Singh, our current National record holder for 1500m and 3000m track race. Jeevanesh has a very rare talent of doing well from 800m (2min 03sec) to 10km (35min.00sec) race.
When Jeeva was a secondary four student, from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, he came down for a friendly time-trial with Hwa Chong Inst (college) in running the 4.5km cross-country time-trial. In the time-trial, he was nearly 3 secs away from our last year's top long distance runner from Hwa Chong Institution (college) by the name of Choo Shijun. Choo Shijun was a fine athlete, who was able to come in top 4 position in the National Schools' Track and Field Championships (2009), coming in 3rd in the 800m (am) and 4th in the 3000m steeplechase race (pm), all were done on the same day itself. This I feel was a remarkable feat in the past.
Pic 3- Hwa Chong Institution's Ex-Captain of the cross-country team, Choo Shijun (left hand side of the photo). He is mentally prepared to run any race anytime and has the ability to recover and recoil in a race. In short, he has resilience and a good role model.
Coming back to the story on Jeevanesh, I realised that this young man is very talented. However, I also found out that this boy was also a shy person who likes to be reserved and be a low profile person. He also has humility of not boasting about his victory in a race. Through Ruben Galen, a runner that I mentor to train using phone only. Ruben Galen introduced me to Jeevanesh, who did not have any form of interest in running at that time.
Over time, Jeevanesh was able to come in second for the national schools' track (1500m race), without much training. The way Jeevanesh ran the first 1km was phenomenal. He was running against Zackary Devaraj from ACS. He lost to Zackary by few secs only. Over time, Jeevanesh came down for my training, which was 10days only, and competed in the National Age Group Championships (2009). Here, for the first time Zackary was defeated. Jeevanesh did 4min 19sec.
In this years race, Jeevanesh came in second in the National Schools' Cross Country Championships in the A Division category. However, in the 1500m, in the National Schools' Track and Field Championships 2010, Jeevanesh was able to clinch the first position. His family were there to give moral support and they were in cloud nine to see Jeevanesh winning the race.
For this year, after an ordeal of running many races and coming in first most of the time, he was nominated as a YOG candidate from a panel of SAA past committee group. He is now having a personal best of 2min 03sec for 800m and 9min 30sec for the 3000m track race. However, he failed to make it to the top 5 runners running in the YOG due to the subjective evaluation done by the SAA past committee. This motivated Jeeva set his eyes to become the Junior best for the 5km and 10km race in Singapore.
After the success of running his first 10km in this year's Army Half-Marathon 10km race in 35min 00sec, coming in sixth and beating Aldrich to seventh position, he is now bent on becoming, over time, the best distance runner in Singapore from 800m to 10000m. At the age of 21, I remember myself doing 36min 31sec in Lumut, Perak where I represented for SAFSA to compete in the South -East Asian Army Meet, in the early 1980s. When I was about 22 years of age, my personal best was around 2min 09sec for the 800m. Jeeva's is 2min 03sec and he has done this 4 times already. Now, it looks like Jeeva, with the periodisation training I am giving now is developing progressively, gradually and systematically, to become the top distance runner in both Junior and Senior section of the 5km and 10km race. This is just my subjective evaluation.
Having said that, the bonus for him and his family now is that he has won the Sinda's highest achievement Award for Excellence (Athletics), along his former fellow school-mate by the name of Ruben Galen, who came in second in the National Schools' Cross-Country Meet (2009). This event was graced by Mr Lim Swee Say (Minister, Prime Minister's Office).
I felt honoured that Galen and Jeevanesh had named me as the person who had inspired them to attain the achievements. I feel that what I had given was just 1% inspiration and 99% of doing well came actually from these students themselves. Having said that, I have interviewed the one of the two boys so that others can emulate them one day. In this, I will feature Jeevanesh.
An Interview with S. Jeevanesh
Can you give me your personal best for the various events in running?
Picture 4- Jeeva (on the extreme left) top the 3km race in 2010 and his former school mate Ruben Galen was second best with a time of 9min 40sec for the 3km race. Si Heng of Hwa Chong (second from right) top the 2000m steeplechase event in the 36th Singapore Junior Athletics Championships 2010. Extreme right hand side of the photo is Mr Sebastion Lim, Jeeva's former school Cross Country and Track and Field teacher came to celebrate the victory.
1500m: 04:19:37 (June 09)
3000m: 09:30:18 (March 10)
5000m: 17:33:98 (Sept 10) off form
10000m: 35:00:48 (Sept 10)
Cross Country (Bedok Reservoir - 4.6km): 15:35:37 (March 10)
What sports did you take when you were young?
Gymnastics (Primary 1-2)
Soccer (Primary 3-4)
Squash (Primary 5-6)
Swimming (Primary 1-6)
Track & Field (Primary 5-6)
What does the Sinda Excellence Award (SEA) mean to you?
It is an indication that I have excelled in my talent, as well as, a stepping stone to greater success.
Does SEA spur you on to go further?
It definitely spurs me on to reach higher heights as my achivements are being recognised by SINDA and with this invaluable support, it motivates me to develop my talent further.
Was running a motivation for you in the past?
When I was young, I prefered soccer to running. I was in the youth team for HOME UNITED and represented them for under-age championships. I usually ran in the intra-school track & field meets, especially 400m & 800m. These events were enjoyable to me because I could 'kick' the other runners at the last 100m of any event and come in champion. However, I only trained once a week for this under a trainer as I was not really interested in running yet. In a nutshell, I ran for fun.
How did running transformed into a passion for you?
I realised that I was talented in running just a year ago, as with little training I had, I still came 6th, 5th & 2nd for the nationals cross country, 3000m & 1500m respectively. Reuben Demetrius, my classmate and nationals cross country 1st runner-up then, introduced me to his coach, Mr Rameshon. With 3 weeks of training with them, I managed to clinch 1st at the Singapore Athletic Junior Championships in the 1500m event with a time of 04:19:37, which was the fastest time for the year for the under 17 age group. Soon, I realised that I should take up running seriously and let it grow into a passion which will last for a life time.
How does your parents support you in running?
They support me by encouraging me during my runs and bringing me to various venues for competitions and trainings. My uncle, who was a excellent middle-runner at his time, also gives advice and moral support to me.
I plan to improve year by year and not all in one go, so that I can enjoy my running over the years. Hopefully, I can represent Singapore in upcoming events in the near future and bring back some glory for Singapore. I also aim to break the Nationals 5000m Record by N.Ganesan over these years. Lastly, I plan to run competitively till I'm 30 before I run for fun again and perhaps share my advice and experience to other young runners while working my career out.
Picture 5 - Jeeva with the Hwa Chong Cross- Country Team-mates
Left to Right - Hwa Chong athletes in singlets, Gary Tse, Oon Shui Kun, Darren Toh, Jian Hong, Augustine Tan, Jian Ler, Yeo Si Heng and Jeevanesh.
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