Eunoia JC’s Nathan Lee bounces back from track blow to claim A Div boys’ cross-country running gold

SINGAPORE – Three weeks ago, Nathan Lee had cut a dejected figure after the A Division boys’ 5,000m final at the National School Games (NSG) track and field championships, after falling short in his bid for his first inter-school title.

Heading into the race, the Eunoia Junior College student had set his sights on gold, but he ran out of steam and settled for the bronze medal.

Instead of moping and moaning, Nathan used the setback as the catalyst to push himself in training, with the NSG cross-country running championships still to come.

The effort paid dividends as his wait for an elusive title finally ended on April 28, when the 16-year-old clinched the A Division boys’ gold with a time of 15min 49.824sec at Bedok Reservoir.

He finished the 4.7km race ahead of Kevin Langner (15:50.743) from Anglo-Chinese JC and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science’s Sung Yejun (15:57.154). The B Div boys also completed a 4.7km route, while the C Div boys and girls of all three divisions ran 3.7km.

Nathan said: “(The 5,000m track race) got me really hungry for more and today was redemption in that sense.

“I felt a bit disappointed so the following weeks of training, I kept reminding myself that I have to work harder if I want to get a gold during cross-country and it provided a lot of motivation for me.”

Wary of the hot conditions on April 28, the JC1 student started the race conservatively, before surging ahead of the field towards the end.

A maiden NSG gold was especially special for Nathan, who had placed fifth in the B Division in 2025, a vast improvement from a 30th-spot finish in 2024.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Nathan, who was driven by the belief that he could be a top runner if he continued to put in the effort.

“Last year I was aiming for gold but fell short, so this year was really a sort of redemption from last year.”

Although he has long loved running, he was initially not selected for the track and field co-curricular activity when he was a Secondary 1 student at Catholic High School (Secondary).

Instead, he joined the choir before securing a transfer to track and field in Sec 2.

He said: “For me, the passion for the sport is also really what’s kept me going all these years because sometimes waking up early in the morning, not everyone wants to do it, so I just had to keep reminding myself of that.”

Hwa Chong Institution’s (HCI) Liu Haoyue won the B Division boys’ individual event, finishing in 15:45.333, ahead of teammates Asher Quah (16:22.933) and Warren Teyu (16:41.865).

It was double joy for the 16-year-old Haoyue as HCI also emerged as the B Division boys’ team champions.

He was proud of his team’s showing, especially considering that some members, including himself, began competitive running only in secondary school.

“Compared to some others, we didn’t have as much as a foundation but we still put in consistent effort, trained hard, motivated each other and today we got pretty good results,” said the Sec 4 student, who also won the B Division boys’ 1,500m and set a meet record (6:43.20) in winning the 2,000m steeplechase at the NSG track and field championships.

In the girls’ events, Cedar Girls’ Secondary School were the dominant side, sweeping the B and C Division individual and team titles.

Cedar’s Mikaela Tan topped the B Division individual race in 14:56.879, ahead of Natalie Yeo from National JC (15:06.639) and Nanyang Girls’ High School’s Sarah Yong (15:07.350).

With just two weeks separating the track and field and cross-country competitions, Mikaela noted it was a tight timeline to prepare for the latter, but was glad she and her teammates were able to pull it off.

The Sec 3 student, who won the 3,000m gold and 1,500m silver on track, said: “I’m so proud that we won this year. We had some doubts that we weren’t going to get the double (divisional team titles), but we actually did it.

“We train so regularly and track just ended and cross was near track, so we had very little time to train, so I’m really grateful that we still won.”

Her teammate Sommer Lim retained her C Division individual title, which came as a welcome relief for the 13-year-old, who had felt the pressure of entering the race as the defending champion.

The Sec 2 student clocked 14:42.574 to beat St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School’s Ayra Daanya (14:56.600) and Anglican High School’s Adelia Lee (14:58.054), to add to her 3,000m and 1,500m gold in track.

Both Mikaela and Sommer attributed the school’s success to a strong team spirit.

“We try our best and every training, sometimes when it’s tough, we just push through and not give up,” said Sommer.

“We just really push ourselves to our limits and we improve and climb faster.”

In the other individual events, HCI’s Cheryl Tan clinched the A Division girls’ title in 14:40.936, with Raffles Institution’s (RI) Megan Puah (14:42.722) second and Emma Lee (14:50.686) of Victoria JC third.

RI’s Kang Jun Han won the C Division boys’ individual race with a time of 12:36.921. Victoria School’s Vedant Garg (12:57.976) was second, ahead of Moussa David Ech-Chatbi Partridge (12:59.084) from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent).

In the overall team competition, ACJC and VJC were the A Division boys and girls’ winners respectively, while the C Division boys’ title went to ACS(I).