Congratulations to our close-knit community of teachers, students and parents who participated in various events at the Singapore International Triathlon. This triathlon is Singapore’s pioneer event that started way back in 1984 and was introduced to the ISS community toward the end of our last academic year by Mr. Dixon, an ISS teacher who advocates for health and fitness in all, students, parents, teachers alike. He proposed the event to the ISS community to see who could rise up to the challenge to show their best efforts in running, cycling, and swimming! People who signed up had the option of choosing either to participate in a team of three, where each member is assigned to one leg of the triathlon, or to participate alone taking on all three stages in succession!

Mr. Dixon wanted to build on the close-knit community we have at ISS and to demonstrate the level of organisation and dedication required in order to participate in a triathlon. This would in-turn teach students valuable life skills they can apply in the future in both their academic and working life. Sure enough, one of our teams, comprising of two ISS students: Neo and Zen, and ISS parent, Hideki Mochizuki, came in first in the “mini” category (a 200 m swim, a 12 km bike ride, and a 2 km run) as a true testament to their determination and effort! After the race, Hideki had this to say:

“The team really showed speed and endurance to beat all the other adult teams! I spoke with Zen and Neo after the race and could see that they learned a lot from one single race about preparation, the will to win, the process of registering for the race, picking up bibs before the race, etc. It’s so much fun to create a new generation of athletes!”

Mr. Dixon, who signed up as an individual participant, came in second in the “sprint” category (a 750 m swim, a 18 km bike ride, and a 5 km run)! Similarly, one of our Grade 12 students, Lucinda, decided to set a challenge for herself to push her own boundaries and completed the entire triathlon individually. In the process of training, Lucinda learnt how to pace herself and organise her time, so she was able to balance both her studies and training for the triathlon on a regular basis. She learnt that it was important not to overthink each step and just keep pushing but also to conserve energy along the way. On the race day, she felt nervous but confident. After she reached the finish line, she felt exhilarated and in her own words: “It felt awesome. Honestly, I couldn’t stop grinning.”

Well done Team ISS! We look forward to you racing again next year!