Written by: Ethan Ling
Edited by: Cheng Kai Wen
Photos by: Eusoff Works
Eusoff’s female road relay team was pumped and full of adrenaline, as they made their way down to Raffles Hall early, where all the runners from all halls were already gathered in their respective areas to warm up and stretch. Our team of 6, Elsie, Jamie, Krystal, Qin Xu, Esha and Elise, led by none other than our small but speedy captain Cloey, were all dressed in their black and yellow jerseys and laced up, ready to dash off to victory. After registration of their lineup sheets, they immediately started warming up and stretching. Some of the runners were even applying muscle cream to their quads and calves to keep their muscles warm throughout the night, as it’ll be quite a wait from the first runner to the last runner. Final pep talk by captain Cloey, as the first runners from all 6 halls lined up on the starting line. As soon as the starting clapper sounded, CLAP, the girls were off with Elsie starting off the race!
Waiting for race to start...
She dashed off heading past the NUS museum towards the main road, looping around the Faculty of Engineering. All the runners were neck and neck with each other for the first half of the race, as it was all flat ground. However, once they reached the infamous ‘CLB slope’, the steep elevation would determine who was the fittest of them all, as the runners started to separate into different positions. Almost reaching the top of the hill, Kent Ridge and Raffles were leading the race at the first leg, with Temasek and Sheares following behind, but Elsie was not giving up despite being in fifth place. She finished strong and passed it on to vice-captain Jamie! Jamie was one of the concrete runners of this team, as she also participated in the previous year’s road relay team. Seeing her team down, her captain instincts kicked in as she was determined to chase down at least 1 hall. Her steady pace and controlled breathing throughout the route, even up the CLB slope, enabled us to pass the Sheares runner and catch up by a sizeable amount to other halls, putting us in fourth place. What a huge lap by Jamie to keep us back in the race!
A simple clap to pass on the baton!
Next up, our third runner Krystal would carry on the momentum and try to mow down Kent Ridge who was in third place. Don’t look down on her because she’s small though, as she held her end and maintained our lead while slowly closing up the gap between us and Kent Ridge. Krystal passed it over to Qin Xu, with Temasek and Raffles in the lead then. With big strides, she maintained her pace up the hill and overtook Kent Ridge, putting us into the top 3! However, there was still about 2 minutes difference between us and number 2 Raffles.
One more clap!
Everyone’s hearts were pumping, supporters and athletes, as it was down to the last 2 runners to change the game. Our fifth runner, Esha, putting all her effort into this one round up and down tough terrains and elevations, kept her spirits high and pushed through till the end. Throughout the route, Eusoff supporters can be heard cheering them on wherever they passed by, giving them the extra boost of encouragement to finish the lap. Lastly, Esha reached the finish line and clapped Elise’s hand, our up and coming freshie, to finish the race strong for Eusoff! All the countless miles of training non-stop all season just for this moment, as she galloped her way up the slope and sprinting down towards the finish line at Raffles Hall. Valiant efforts by our girls, despite not having their captain Cloey to run alongside them due to injuries, they put up a good fight and managed to pull through to finish in third place overall, with a timing of 51 minutes and 46 seconds!
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