SAISA TRACK CHAMPIONS!!!

February 10th 2024-

If someone asked me about the 2024 SAISA Track & Field season, I would honestly need a moment to take in the rollercoaster of emotions that it was. If I had to describe my season in one word I would simply call it a miracle. 

It was an early start to Wednesday the 7th of Feb. I remember waking up to the sheer feeling of excitement, after waiting almost a whole year it was finally time for my favorite season of all, Track & Field! I remember feeling a little bit nervous once I woke up, I was having vivid flashbacks of everything that happened last SAISA track, and even though those emotions fueled my excitement to go, it also made me more anxious, because I would have to go through everything I did last year once again. 

Traveling with my team has always been a fun highlight for me, the track squad is pretty big with around 30 children. It is a cool opportunity to bond with new people who you might not normally hang out with. One of the funniest moments of the trip for me was when we were eating at the Burger King outlet at the airport. My friend Akash had dropped around $50 on food, and the boys mainly myself, Olau, Senaka, and Akash, of course, were making very biased negotiations and deals to try and eat as many chicken wings as possible haha! It was actually like a circus show, fueled by the stomachs of four hungry and greedy track athletes.

Upon our arrival at the AISC school in Chennai, I was greeted with a lot of memories. Walking through those halls made me reminisce about the last time I was at this magical school. It felt surreal to me in a way that might not be so relatable to many people. Walking out onto the rubber track which I would be running on in a few hours, made me think “Wow, I’m back” I remember glancing up at the sky above me and seeing the orange sun dying out behind the structure of the AISC Raptors cafeteria building, providing my team and everyone else on the field with a beautiful sunset.

Day2:

Today was the first official day of the competition, I was locked in! I told myself this year would be very different, I was determined to try to break all my records and win some individual races. During the last track season, I was able to help my team win both of our relays, the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400 meter relay. However, individually I feel like I let myself down because I was not able to score or place in any of my races, which were the 100,200, and the 400. Luckily this year I had another chance at the price and glory because I was doing the same events. The 100-meter dash was my first event of the season and that went as well as I could have expected it to. I ended up making the finals and came to a solid 4th place which I was pleased with. An improvement from last year. My friend and teammate Aydin had a solid run and was able to wrap up the 100-meter in a win for himself and the team. I was very happy with this because the two of us contributed to a lot of team points. The 200, was almost a copy-paste of the 100-meter results, I came 4th once again and Aydin managed to win with a brilliant run. Overall I was very happy with my performance because it was a huge improvement from last year. The last event of the day was the 4×400 relay. My nerves were through the roof for this race. If you asked any athlete in track, almost every single one of them would tell you that the 400-meter run is by far the most difficult race in track. The reason why it’s so hard is because it’s considered to be a sprint, so you have to sprint one and a half laps as fast as you possibly can. Take this from me, the last 50 meters of the 400 is like pushing your body past its physical limits. I remember speaking to one of the coaches there from AISC, and he was telling me that he likes to call the last corner of the race “hell bend” 

I was nervous about our race because it was the very last event of the whole day, the sun started to set, the floodlights came on, and the whole school made their way towards the field to watch the 15-19 boys run their race. I am the first runner in my relay, so there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders to get my team a good lead. In my personal opinion starting first in a relay is probably one of the scariest things to do in sports, as an athlete you will be on edge, and your nerves will go through the roof. As soon as I heard that starting gun blow, I ran as fast as I could, however, I played it smart. I decided to run at 80% of my potential and run at 100% with everything I got on the last lap. This is because I knew my competition would run fast on lap one and then die out before the end of the race. That’s why I wanted to save my fastest for the last bit so that I could overtake them and give my team a solid lead. Coming out of “hell’s bend” I was leading the race and there was a good gap behind. Once I gave it to Aydin, I immediately collapsed on the floor, I was gone.  I remember laying down on the grass in the middle of the rubber track and gathering all my strength to lift my head up, to see Akash coming home with the lead and crossing the line to win the race. I don’t think  I have ever felt so happy in my whole life, the joy I felt in that moment knowing that I overcame my fears and managed to win the 4×4 relay made me so emotional. I remember embracing my four teammates, Akash, Aydin, and Olau, and collapsing to the floor in tears of joy. 

Day3:

Ahhh, Day 3, looking back at it now I would say that this was probably the best day of my life at least for now. The day started with a 5 am wake-up call, the final day of an amazing competition. However, it wasn’t the best start to my morning. I remember waking up a little earlier than Senaka and Luka, and I went for a small walk outside up and down my hotel corridor, for me it was a very bittersweet start to my morning. Even though we had managed to win the 4×400 relay, in a very dominant fashion we had found out that we only missed out on the Saisa record by two seconds, and this was partly my fault. On the day of the 4×4 relay, I felt like I had never felt more nervous in my life.

 Last year during track I made a terrible mistake by starting my 400-meter run fast, and I ended up burning out before the last 100 meters and everyone ended up catching me. It was a horrible day and a horrible feeling getting passed on the track and not being able to do anything about it. However, I did learn a very important lesson that day, which I feel has helped me to become the athlete that I am today. This memory was in my head right before I ran the 4×400 this year, and I remembered telling my teammates that I would not make that same mistake no matter what, I told them not to worry because I planned to conserve during the first lap which means run it slightly slower, and then during the final stretch to use all my speed and pace to get the lead and overtake the others when they start to get tired. In a nutshell, this was exactly what happened, I snuck in right behind the first-place runner on the first lap, and during the last 100 meters, I started sprinting and ended up overtaking them and getting my team the lead of the race. However, due to my conserving on the first lap, I ended up running a slower 400 meters compared to my potential and what I was capable of doing, and this was the mistake that contributed to costing us the SAISA record. 

Oh, how I hated myself that morning. I remember standing in the hot shower just dwelling on the night before, the thought of not getting my first SAISA record and knowing that I could have done something about it almost dissolved the joy that came out of the win. I remember going around the table during breakfast and apologizing to my teammates,  and they all told me not to worry about it which made me feel a bit better. My coach Ms.Sue noticed that I was feeling a bit down, and she came up to me and asked what was wrong, I told her what was on my mind, and she made me feel so much better. She hugged me and told me I ran well, she also said that it was not completely my fault at all, because for one person to improve by 2 seconds in a 400 is very difficult, and she explained to me that it would be more realistic if all four of our runners improved by 0.5 seconds to make up the difference. This helped me and put my mind at ease.

At the start, I did mention that this was the best day of my life, and from what I have described I wouldn’t be surprised if you found it difficult to understand. It’s what happened next that turned my day around. The first event of the day was the individual 400-meter race, and my mentality and mindset were bulletproof, I had taken all that frustration and turned it into a desire to hunt for a win, I had nothing to lose this was an individual event and I told myself to go for it and take a risk is going as fast as physically possible. I remember crouching down before the blocks looking down at my hands and telling myself that I was going to win this. The gun blew and I took off! From what I could remember I entered a state of deep concentration. It felt almost surreal, I had tunnel vision and everything apart from the track was almost invisible to me. Physically I was feeling confident my injured groin pain had seemed to disappear and I went for it. I was coming into the last corner “Hells Bend” leading the race and It was at this moment that I realized that my first SAISA individual gold medal was in my sight. I was now on the last 80-meter straight line, and I remembered focusing on my arm movement as it helped to forget the pain and fatigue I was experiencing, from the corner of my eye I could see my father cheering me on, and all I could think about was making him proud, and I feel like that flipped a switch and helped me in the final stretch of the race. I crossed the line first and was a champion! Initially, I did not know what I had achieved, all I knew was that I had won my heart and I was so happy that the 400 was done and dusted. I looked around amidst the crowd of cheers and congratulations I was receiving and I saw Ms.Sue running up to me and looking over the moon with joy, she gave me a big hug and told me that I had won the 400!

It took a moment for me to process what had just happened, but when it finally did I was probably the happiest kid there after just running a 400-meter dash. My parents came up to me and told me how proud they were, and I felt so complete. Nothing seemed to worry me anymore, every small thing that I was worried about and stressed about seemed so minuscule now. I remember receiving a message from Sam Turner, who was our previous SAISA captain and he told me how proud I was, he told me that I had improved by 4 seconds from last night, which meant I had run a 55-second 400 meter which was huge! My day had completely flipped and I was feeling so happy. However, things got even better. It was now time for the last event of the whole of SAISA. The 4x1oo meter relay was the event that could potentially put OSC in the lead and make us the favorites to win. I hugged my team and told my boys, this was it, the cherry on top of the cake, and we could win this. I told them that it was ours to take. The gun blew, I ran as fast as I possibly could, and gave the baton to Akash who then passed it to Kiran, and finally onto Aydin, who brought it home and won the race for us. Saying this from the bottom of my heart this was the happiest moment of my life, I fell to the floor with tears in my eyes, I could hear the speakers playing Viva La Vida by Cold Play, my favorite song, I was a 400-meter gold medalist, and OSC were SAISA champions.