New 4x400m women U23 record

From left to right, Wendy Enn, Shanti Veronica Pereira, Dipna-Lim Prasad and T. Piriyah.

At the recent Taiwan Open T&F Championship held at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on 28th May, four of our best quarter-miler girls ran the 4×400 metres event in the hope of chasing and securing their SEA Games spots.

The first leg was run by Wendy Enn, the second Shanti Veronica Pereira, the third Dipna-Lim Prasad and the last leg by T. Piriyah.

They needed to run 3:45.03 minutes or better but they fall short of the qualifying mark returning a time of 3:48.16 minutes instead.

While our girls’ mile quartet team was naturally disappointed there was however a silver lining as their effort was the first sub 3:50 minutes timing in recent memory.

It was also a 1.93 seconds improvement in the Under-23 women 4×400 metres record.

They improved the previous 2011 record of 3:50.09 minutes ran by Wendy Enn, Valerie Seema Pereira, T. Piriyah and Dipna-Lim Prasad, which currently now stand at 3:48.16 minutes from the Taiwan outing, pending ratification by SAA.

From left to right, the 2011 record breaking team T. Piriyah, Wendy Enn, Dipna-Lim Prasad and Pereira.

The Under-23 years record was established to recognized and acknowledge the effort by our transitioning junior to senior ranks athlete.

If you’re observant enough, it was more or less the same girls that ran the 2011 record breaking race, also ran in the recent Taiwan Open too.

A hint… it’s the Pereira sisters.

The difference was that the former race second leg was run by Valerie Seema Pereira and the latter race also a second leg was run by Valerie’s younger sister, Shanti.

The four girls were oblivious of the new record ran in Taiwan until they were told by their respective coaches, Shanti who was coached by Ms. Margaret Oh and the other three girls by Mr. Viatcheslav Vassiliev.

Running in Lane 6, 19-years-old Wendy Enn running the first leg ran a blistering first part of the race and felt the lactic surge at the end. She was split at around 59.7 seconds as she handed the baton to Shanti Veronica Pereira.

Wendy was too harsh on her performance as she recalled, “I pulled the team down. I should improve on my 400 metres more and we should run more 4×400 metres more often.”

Shanti who is multiple record holders in junior and youth level showcased her talent not only in the shorter sprints but also the longer ones as she was split at around 55.8 seconds. There was nearly a botched baton passed as she handed the baton to Dipna-Lim Prasad, but luckily they recovered.

Our golden girl who was optimistic of the quartet future races, Shanti was quoted post-race, “I’m sure we can go faster. If we continue training that we do and just stay focused until we qualify, I’m sure was can do it”.

The third leg runner Dipna-Lim Prasad, a seasoned athlete and the current record holder in the women 100 metres hurdles chased down and improved the team position from 3rd to 2nd on her watch. The 22-year-old was split at around 55.9 seconds.

Dipna recapped, “Our passing, I fumbled for the baton when receiving from Shanti so that cost us a bit of time. “

There was already a good sizable lead as Team Singapore was in silver medal position as Dipna passed the baton to the last leg runner, T. Piriyah. The first placed team, the Vietnamese was some 20-30 metres ahead but 21-year-old Piriyah was undaunted. She tried, held on the second spot for the team and was split at 56.7 seconds.

After the race, Piriyah commented, “Maybe I could have ran faster, too much lactic from the 400m”, referring to her previous races in the day where she ran two 400 metres races.

The race was won by the Vietnam women national team, their timing 3:44.49 minutes, while the bronze medal was won by a local Taiwanese club, 3:50.77 minutes.

The four girls once again will have a chance to redeem themselves again later today as they’re scheduled to run the 4×400 metres event at the 75th Singapore Track & Field Championship. All the best girls!

Video of the race

Team Singapore in Lane 6.

Video courtesy of Lee Cheng Wei.

Benchmark to beat
Women national record – 3:43.85 (1974)
2013 SEA Games qualifying mark – 3:45.03

4x400m Season-best
2013 – 3:48.16 (Wendy, Shanti, Piriyah, Dipna)
2012 – 3:57.83 (Ruelia, Tyra Ree, Charlene, Farhana)
2011 – 3:50.09 (Wendy, Valerie, Piriyah, Dipna)
2010 – 4:07.16 (S’pore Jr. team)