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-- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
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JUST 0.01 of a second.
That was the fine line that prevented another record-equalling feat by national 100 metres sprinter Amanda Choo yesterday.
Still, the 12.13sec sprint meant that Choo had started the athletics season at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) Progressive Meet at ITE College East in hot form.
'I'm glad to come so close to my record,'' Choo, 20, said after her race. 'I'm even happier to have clocked a good timing with my first race of the season.'
The Nanyang Technological University undergraduate added: 'Although I resumed training a week after December's South-east Asia Games, my routine last week was disrupted by the heavy rain.
'But, overall, it's a good start to the season.''
Choo was not the only one who went home satisfied with the revamped Progressive Meet, previously known as the All-comers Meet.
The event underwent a face-lift this year to provide more competition opportunities for athletes from beginners to the elite.
To provide a more levelled competition, athletes compete according to their performance levels instead of age-groups.
The meet attracted cross-country runner Lokasw Priyanka, who ran her first 400m race and came in third in the 67.0-70.0sec category with a time of 69.87sec.
Encouraged by her coach Joel Tay, the 14-year-old lined up against girls up to four years older than her.
Despite finishing third, she was not happy.
'My timing of 69 seconds is not good enough to compete against the national runners, who all came in under a minute,'' Priyanka said.
But the lanky student, who stands at 1.66m, was glad that she had switched from cross-country to middle-distance running.
'I wasn't that good at cross-country,'' she conceded.
'This meet gave me a chance to test myself. I'm glad that I participated.''
Said Tay, her coach: 'Priyanka has good pace and, being lanky, she has the physical attributes to excel in 400m and 800m events.
'I'm confident she can go on to do well in these two categories.''
According to SAA president Loh Lin Kok, yesterday's meet saw the number of entries go up from 500 in previous editions to 1,010.
He said: 'It's more work for us to cater to more athletes but, at the end of the day, the Progressive Meet has achieved its target of promoting athletics.
'The response was so good that we had to conduct more 100m races.
'We tweaked the system and, now, we are seeing the good results.''
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