It was a night full of stories. Stories of the greats told by the greats. Huddled around the living room, the next generation of athletes listened intently to the quirky tales of our legends. Barefooted athletes, flying doctors, scholars and athletes who had competed for both Malaya before Singapore gained its independence. It was a gathering of “generations” of athletes, some of whom still currently hold existing 60-year-old records and some who’d just joined the sport.

We had the honour of having one of the most illustrious of ACS sons with us - Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan, 4 times Asian Gold medallist, twice an Olympic Semi-finalist, a scholar (Seow Poh Leng medallist), an officer (served as Chair in numerous national and international organisations in the fields of sports and medicine) and a true Gentleman.

November 10, 2019 was the first Oldham Athletics gathering since being formally recognised as an Associate member of the Singapore Athletics Association. The gathering was many things to each of us, but it was, in essence a chance for the past generations of athletes to inspire the next.

Through the sharings of the committee members, Mr Tan Wen Tai, Mr YT Low and Mr Nicholas Foo, we heard the values that our club was built on. The sincerity in their voices reminded us, young and old, to consider an aspect of athletics that few outside this fraternity might experience. The aspect of community. Here, community existed for the primary purpose of supporting itself.

After reflecting on that evening, I distilled my understanding of what Oldham Athletics was to a story shared by one of the legends. The whole room fell silent and the eyes of the next generation of athletes glistened and narrowed in on an astute 5ft tall “Uncle” clad in a polo t-shirt and some brown chinos. Mr Mirza Namazie recounted how he started running in 1963. On a whim, he had decided to go for the school’s cross-country trials to select the A, B and C division teams for the District championships. At the Farrer Park Sports Stadium where the trials were held, he was told that the run was to be 12 laps around the 400-metre track, which seemed rather daunting as he had never run more than a round at the school’s 200-metre Barker Road field track. Some of the older boys had doubts he was able to complete the distance and even advised him to think twice before taking part. But he was not deterred and went ahead to take part in the trials.

Mirza started at the back of the pack, running at a steady pace as he was not sure whether he would be able to complete the distance. Being oblivious to everybody else taking part, he continued at his steady pace, gradually overtaking one and all and ended up winning the race with much to spare to the amazement of the coaches present!

When he got home, his mother was filled with anxiety when he told her what happened, and he was not allowed to go to school the next day. She took him to the hospital for a full check-up by the renowned Professor Gordon Ransome. The fact of the matter was that Mirza has been taking medication off and on for epilepsy for the last 2 to 3 years (hence his mother’s anxiety) and he believes that running had a part to play in warding off epilepsy in his life once and for all. His revelations indicate that with passion and commitment, an ACS boy can go a long way to chase his dreams.

As memories continued to be shared and the night came to a close, it felt as though the hall had visibly shrunk. Our plates, still full of delicious food had barely been touched as time seemed to have disappeared along with any trace of the initial awkwardness. Sitting among countless generations of athletes, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmth that radiated from one person to the next. To any casual onlooker, we were a gathering of elders, seniors, and friends, some of whom had been competitors for the past 10 years. But that night, it was evident who all of us really were to each other- Family.

Joshua Lim
ACS Class of 2018