"2018 Founder's Run" redirects here. For the first ever victory of Lau Wei Yiang in the Founder's Run, see 2017 Sports Day. For the successful attainment of the fourth Bullseye victory, see 2019 Sports Day.
The 2018 Sports Day was held on Thursday, 29th March 2018. It was the second time a Sports Day was held on a Thursday before Good Friday; the other being 2016. Touchdown retained their victory in the 2018 Sports Day from 2017, overtaking Bullseye in the track and field events after a brief Bullseye lead in early 2018. The Touchdowners managed to widen the gap between them and Bullseye, winning 828 to Bullseye's 751 points. It is the first Sports Day since Bullseye's 2017 loss, and the first Sports Day since the 2017 Nobel Cup victory.
This is also Wei Yiang and Caleb's first Sports Day since their graduation in November 2017. It is also the first Sports Day since 2015 where the rankings changed midway from Nobel Cup to Sports Day, and the second Sports Day to incorporate the scores of the previous year's Nobel Cup.
This is also the final Sports Day victory of Touchdown until the 20th Anniversary Sports Day in 2024; Bullseye would go on to clinch five victory years from 2019 to 2023, surpassing the first victory streak from 2014 to 2016.
Background
Bullseye had lost the 2017 Sports Day by a score of 648-649. It is the closest lineup between two houses in Nobel International School's history. The loss came after the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Sports Days, and also after losing the Nobel Cup 2016 following the 2014 and 2015 Nobel Cup victories. Bullseye managed to reclaim the Nobel Cup 2017 after the 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day loss, and Bullseye members intend to continue the victory for the year 2017 following the 2017 Nobel Cup, which was involved by Wei Yiang and Caleb, the architects and strategists of Operation Speedrunner.
Had Bullseye won the 2016 Nobel Cup, 2017 Sports Day and the 2017 Nobel Cup, the 2018 Sports Day would be the first test of Bullseye's victories post graduation, as the 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day victories would have had been added to the list of victories, consisting of the 2014 Sports Day, 2014 Nobel Cup, 2015 Sports Day, 2015 Nobel Cup, 2016 Sports Day, 2016 Nobel Cup, 2017 Sports Day and 2017 Nobel Cup. In this scenario, four calendar years had had an achievable Sports Day and Nobel Cup victory; 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017; and 2018 would be a fifth attempt to win all the events in one sweep.
Because Bullseye did not win the 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day, the 2017 Nobel Cup and 2018 Sports Day planned victories were to be replacements for those losses, and become the third Nobel Cup victory and fourth Sports Day victory, respectively. At the launch of Sports 2018 on 12th January 2018, the Nobel Cup 2017 victory had been achieved, creating a scrapegoat year in between the two victories of 2015 and 2017's Nobel Cup. The plan was to do this for the 2018 Sports Day, with 2017 sandwiched between the 2016 and 2018 Sports Day victories.
Security policy of Nobel International School
The process of Sports Day 2018 involved two significant phases; the studentship phase and the alumni phase of Lau Wei Yiang. As the graduation for the Class of 2017 took place in November 2017, students of Nobel International School who graduated in the Year 2017 were considered outsiders for 2018. Since the process of Sports Day 2018 begun with the 2017 Nobel Cup, the 2018 Sports Day would require significant changes and alterations to suit the current realities of Wei Yiang and Caleb Chuang as alumni.
Being an outsider involved significant challenges, as Operation Speedrunner plans for 2018 would need to face the dreaded challenge of Nobel's security policy. The school has a policy of requiring visitors to register before entry into the school, and any event at Nobel would require passing through security concerns.
The security policy, while designed to protect the safety of students, was first implemented in June 2012, following the kidnapping incident of Nayati, a student of Mont Kiara International School, in April 2012. Hence, from June 2012, the school imposed controls for parents into the school, and being an international school, Nobel provides a high standard of security. Critics of the security policy allege that the policy was intended to dissuade and influence the outcome of Sports Day and Nobel Cup post-2018. Visitors to the school would normally be required to make an appointment, and the alumni visitation process at the time only required alumni to register at the school security post. This policy was not an issue when Wei Yiang and Caleb were students of Nobel, but this policy threw a spanner in the plans of Operation Speedrunner following November 2017.
Visits of Lau Wei Yiang to Nobel International School
In order to ensure Bullseye wins the Sports Day, Wei Yiang will need to return to Nobel International School to motivate the Bullseye members to do well. This is due to the significance of an alumni.
Most alumni, after graduating, will return for at least one or two Sports Days following their graduation from Nobel. The Class of 2013 managed to return for at most until the 2016 Sports Day. And for most current students, they would also wish to see their seniors return for at least one or two Sports Days. However, within the first three months, throughout the Sports Day, Wei Yiang returned to Nobel International School for at least seven to eight times following his graduation from Nobel, and this includes the visit to collect his IGCSE results, to participate in the Founder's Run, and also on Sports Day itself.
The visit of Wei Yiang himself is timely; the multiple visits brought surprise and shock to the Bullseye members, but caused concern among the management. Normally, teachers and staff wish for alumni to return to Nobel, but Wei Yiang's multiple visits were quite concerning.
First day of School, Tuesday, 2nd January 2018
The first day of school saw Wei Yiang visiting the school to watch the first day of school. He stood outside the school before being joined by Heng Le Anne from his batch who was also Touchdown's assistant captain. Wei Yiang managed to follow Le Anne into the school before being escorted out by one of the school's facilities staff. Le Anne was delivering her Year 10 and 11 books to the Year 10 students on the first day of school. Following the visit, Wei Yiang went to Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam to practice for the Founder's Run.
Second day of school, Wednesday, 3rd January 2018
On the second day of school, Wei Yiang went to Nobel International School, during the dismissal time, and was greeted by many of the students from Nobel.
1st February 2018
Wei Yiang returned to Nobel on 1st February 2018 to collect his IGCSE Statement of Results, but was told by Ms Bee Yong not to visit often when Ms Bee Yong met him while he toured the school and talked to fellow students.
Alumni wild card
The significance of Sports Day 2018 was to allow the 2018 Sports Day to become the first Sports Day in which an alumni was able to influence the scoring system of the Sports Day. However, this process will require passing through the confines of Ms Lim's ethos, which is that ex students and alumni would never be allowed or would be impossible to influence any event in Nobel. This was a red line and a hard line which Ms Lim would never be allowed to happen.
At the time of the Sports Day loss in 2017, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had left UMNO and had set up his own party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, to take on the Barisan Nasional government in the 2018 General Election. The general election had not been called at the time of Sports Day's occurrance in 2018.
The theory was that Tun Mahathir was able to come out of retirement, exit UMNO, and dare to challenge Datuk Seri Najib Razak both publicly and privately. Seeing the inspiration, Wei Yiang wanted to do the same for the 2018 Sports Day; to challenge Chong Vicky, Heng Zi Quan and others who berated, criticized, scolded and sidelined him to show that 2017 was possible only if he had been listened to and given a chance to explain the situation. The only way to do so was to win the 2018 Sports Day in a show of defiance. Had this happened, Wei Yiang and Bullseye were paving the way for Pakatan Harapan to follow in winning the 2018 General Election on 9th May 2018 by showing a good example for the way forward.
A victory of Bullseye in the 2018 Sports Day will also show Ms Lim Mee Wee that ex students and alumni would have the power to control and coordinate and influence the scores, bypassing the ethus crafted by Ms Lim, who had warned every student that they will be barred from Nobel's activities following their graduation.
In order for this to be possible, Wei Yiang will need to return to Nobel and motivate the Bullseye members to do and to perform at their very best.
Telecommunication
Unlike in previous years, such as 2016 and 2017, where Wei Yiang can receive announcements and updates from Nobel International School for events like Sports Day during the assembly, Wei Yiang cannot do so for 2018 because he was not a student of Nobel beginning from January 2018. Therefore, in order to receive updates, Wei Yiang will need to receive the updates from few students in Nobel. Wei Yiang would receive these updates from Low Xang Yen and other Bullseye members coordinating Sports Day. Likewise, he messaged Bullseye members the plans, proposals and strategies to allow them to navigate Sports Day. Wei Yiang was constantly communicated and updated by Nikhil Thanasan, Melvyn Lim and Ethan Chan throughout the Sports Day preparation period.
Launch of Sports Day 2018
The Sports Day 2018 was launched on Friday, 12th January 2018. Mr Narish announced the theme of Sports Day 2018 as Justice League (Superheroes). It was the first time a superhero theme was launched for Sports Day in Nobel International School. The theme was welcomed by all the students.
When the theme was launched by Mr Narish, many students had questioned Mr Narish if they could adopt any superhero as they please. However, Mr Narish clarified that only superheroes corresponding to the color of their sports house and are from the Justice League animated series are allowed for Sports Day, failing which their house can be disqualified. Mr Narish subsequently announced the date of the Founder's Run as 7th February 2018, the Sports Day for 29th March, and the first Sports House Meet for Monday, 15th January 2018. There were a total of four Sports House meets scheduled; the other House Meets being 5th February 2018, 12th February 2018, 26th February 2018, and 11th March 2018.
Preparations for Sports Day 2018
The preparations for Sports Day 2018 begun immediately after the first House Meet on 15th January 2018. Students were given the opportunity to sign up for their respective events, and the students were given the House Cheer for 2018. The House Meet for Bullseye took place at the Dismissal Area.
At the first House Meet, Koo Shi Tian emphasized the importance of the 2017 Sports Day Results. The announcement was a shocking piece of news to the Year 7 students, who were quite flabbergasted over the 648-649 score lineup. Photos of the scoreboard showing the scores were beamed to all the Bullseye members in the main Bullseye WhatsApp group, which Wei Yiang had suggested to set up. The meeting was also interrupted by Ms Yong Wai Yee, who emphasized that every single point counted.
Meanwhile, Ethan Chan announced the lineup of the house committee. Benjamin Lew was to be the march captain, Andrea Chang the dance captain, Melvyn Lim the banner captain, Nikhil Thanasan the secretary, Koh Geok Minh the treasurer and Valerie Pang the telematch captain. The lineup was confirmed during the House Captain Election the previous year, on 11th September 2017.
Benjamin Lew had the support of Bullseye's marchers as the 2018 march captain, and he was poised to succeed Caleb Chuang as march captain from the 2017 cohort. The marchers urged Benjamin Lew not to be as strict as Zi Quan after Benjamin Lew threatened to do so as some people still tried to joke around with him.
In the athletics competitions, many people were saddened of the loss of Sean Mark as Sean Mark graduated along with the 2017 batch. Thus, a new individual was poised to replace Sean Mark as the landmark sprinter of Bullseye. Ethan Chan was hailed as Sean Mark's replacement; but many were concerned about who will also be the successor of Lau Wei Yiang in the Founder's Run. Ethan Chan urged the athletes to sign up and train for the Founder's Run by themselves if they wanted to be like Wei Yiang. The Bullseye members listened to him and signed up. Wei Yiang and Sean Mark's names were consistently brought up during each of the house meets and practices. But however, the Bullseye members were also saddened that Wei Yiang was not there to predict and tell them the points. They were fortunate to know that some of the Year 11s had contact with him.
Continuing with the tradition from 2017, Ethan Chan and Koo Shi Tian were called General Chan and General Koo by Lau Wei Yiang, a tradition he had started from 2017 in calling Sean Mark, Chia Yan Ying and Chong Vicky as Captain Sean, Captain Chia and Captain Chong.
2018 Founder's Run
The 2018 Founder's Run was held on 7th February 2018; a day to the previous year's Founder's Run, held on 8th February. The run took place at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam for the third consecutive year.
Registration for Founder's Run opened on Friday, 12th January 2018, and Bullseye recorded the highest registrations for Founder's Run. The score resulted in a 50-point lead by Bullseye in the official Founder's Run tally. The run was the first run in which the parents' category was opened to alumni. The registration statistics were announced by Mr Narish during the morning assembly on 22nd January 2018. Coming in second for registrations was Touchdown, followed by Slamdunk and lastly, Homerun. Students had until 31st January 2018 to register for the Founder's Run.
Ethan Chan, the assistant house captain of Bullseye, successfully convinced all the Bullseye members to register for the Founder's Run upon realizing the importance of the one-point gap and the blame some Bullseye members had in not registering for the Founder's Run.
The 2018 Founder's Run was coordinated by Mr Narish and Mr Nigel Rhode, the newly appointed head of CCA. Once again, a 5km and 10km race was held. For the first time, a Zumba session was held.
In the 2018 Founder's Run, Wei Yiang became the second defending champion to defend his title in the Founder's Run, after Nieshaal Thambipillay. Like Nieshaal, Wei Yiang was also able to improve on his 5km timing, clocking 19:33 minutes in 2018 as opposed to 21:45 minutes in 2017. His timing improved by 3 minutes; faster than Nieshaal Thambipillay's.
On the students' category, Alysha Yuen and Lee Chun Hang were the winners of the 10km category, while Areeya Amali and Nicholas Liang were the winners of the 5km category. Alysha, Areeya and Nicholas were from Bullseye, making the 2018 Founder's Run the best performance of all Founder's Runs for Bullseye.
Bullseye was announced as the champion house of the Founder's Run by Mr Narish during the closing ceremony of the Founder's Run, followed by Touchdown, Homerun and Slamdunk. The victory of Bullseye in the Founder's Run was attributed to Wei Yiang being present at the Founder's Run by the Bullseye members, and it cemented Bullseye's lead at 345 points, followed by Touchdown with 286 points, Homerun with 245 points and Slamdunk with 212 points.
Management's Reaction to Wei Yiang's visits and the Sports Day scores
On 22nd January 2018, the Management team met at 9am in the management office to discuss on tightening the alumni visitation policy after Wei Yiang was spotted at Nobel International School in the first 10 days of 2018 mingling after school with current students near the school's bus stop. The visits challenged the ethos of Ms Lim on alumni visitations.
The meeting was attended by Ms Praveen, Mr Chan Lik Hoong, Ms Bee Yong, Ms Lim, Ms Sim and Ms Yew Foong Ching, who was the Cambridge IGCSE exams liaison officer for Nobel International School. All of the management members expressed support for alumni returning, which made Ms Bee Yong very angry. The management team drew up a draft security policy for alumni, which took effect immediately. This was effective for students visiting the school, but it did not prevent Wei Yiang from mingling with the students outside school.
Following the 2018 Founder's Run, the Management team were not pleased with what was happening. The performance of Bullseye was improving, and a 2018 Sports Day victory for Bullseye was on the horizon, and Wei Yiang was returning to Nobel. The Operation Speedrunner was returning.
Ms Bee Yong was not happy, and worse still, the teachers had started associating Bullseye's lead with Wei Yiang. The management immediately called a meeting on Monday, 12th February, to discuss the crisis.
Ms Lim was surprised at the sudden surge and popularity that Wei Yiang was bringing to Bullseye. The management hardliners, Ms Lim and Ms Bee Yong, were very shocked at what was happening. The duo criticized teachers who supported Wei Yiang's return to Nobel. Ms Lim was quoted as saying, "we will lose control and he will break the norm," when bringing up the possibility of Bullseye winning due to Lau Wei Yiang. Teachers who supported his return to Nobel, such as Mr Simon, were criticized for their lax attitude and "for allowing ex students to influence the school." Ms Lim personally was worried.
When Mr Narish suggested that alumni returning can enhance the competition betweenn the houses, this made Ms Bee Yong furious. According to Ms Bee Yong, the management "had to deal with a dozen or so teachers trying to persuade Ms Bee Yong, Ms Lim and Auntie Clarine to seize the opportunity to let alumni have the opportunity to participate in school events" following Wei Yiang's continuous return to Nobel. There was nothing else they can do. The management made the decision to support Touchdown, which was just behind Bullseye, in the competitions.
The strict security policy was criticized by the Bullseye members as "dirty tricks" being played by the management to prevent and reduce support for Bullseye during Sports Day. Ms Bee Yong reportedly told the Bullseye members not to depend on Wei Yiang for motivation.
Wei Yiang's 2018 banner
Wei Yiang, continuing from the 2016 and 2017 Sports Day, designed the theme for Sports Day 2018 to evoke a nuclear explosion and the words Bullseye on the nuclear mushroom cloud. The mushroom cloud would be painted to look like the stripes of Bullseye, and surrounding the banner would be the colleges of the students admitted from the Class of 2017. The colleges listed on the banner were Methodist College Kuala Lumpur, Segi College, Sunway College, INTI College, Taylor's College, KDU College and the Management and Science University, as well as the words 'United Kingdom' and 'Australia', symbolizing the close friendship and collaborative support between current students and alumni.
The size of the banner was increased in order to allow runners to see the banner clearly. The banner is the only banner to be voted on from five separate designs on a poll on Facebook, allowing Bullseye members to participate in the polling of the banner.
Sports Day Rehearsal, Cheer Competition and Telematch Day
Pre Sports Events
The Pre Sports Events took place on 8th and 9th March 2018. The events were held at Nobel International School. The High Jump and Shot Putt competition were won by Touchdown and Homerun respectively.
Cheer Competition and Telematch Day
The Telematch Day was held on Friday, 23rd March 2018. The activities for the day include the Tug of War, Cheer Competition and the Telematch Competition. The tug of war competition was won by Touchdown; the Cheer Competition by Slamdunk, and the Telematch events by Homerun.
On the morning of the Telematch Day, two police cars were patrolling the roads in front of Nobel International School. Wei Yiang purposely came, dressed in his Sports Day attire to motivate the Bullseye members ahead of the telematch competition. The Bullseye members were overjoyed. Wei Yiang managed to meet Valerie Pang, Benjamin Lew, Nicholas Liang, Andrew Loke, Elissa Carmen, Areeya Amali, Yap Dawn, Koo Shi Tian and Ethan Chan ahead of the Cheer Competition and Telematch.
While Wei Yiang was motivating the Bullseye members, he was approached by Mr Jeffrey; a member of staff from the Front Office after parents complained to him that "a student was refusing to enter the school compound". This caused confusion among staff, and Wei Yiang was told to quickly leave to avoid chaos and outrage among the parents.
Sports Day Rehearsal
The Sports Day Rehearsal was held on Monday, 26th March 2018, at the Panasonic Stadium, Shah Alam. The event took place in heavy rain, which threatened to disrupt the rehearsal process for Sports Day.
Wei Yiang was unable to attend the rehearsal; he had planned to do so but was required to attend the Orientation Programme for his Foundation in Arts. Hence, the rehearsal proceeded as planned despite the rain.
The Sports Day Rehearsal was originally scheduled to begin at 9am as students were bussed from Nobel International School to Panasonic Stadium. However, a sudden downpour from 7:00am until 12:00pm interrupted the rehearsal. The sports events went ahead while the students were told to do their practices. The rehearsal was delayed to 11am when the rain trickled to a light drizzle. Overall, it was drizzling for the entire day. Mr Narish eventually cancelled the main rehearsal process and students were bussed back to Nobel International School. He announced the change in plans via a WhatsApp communicationn to all teachers and an announcement to all students. The rehearsal was cancelled due to safety concerns involving all students participating in the opening ceremony.
Following the rehearsal, students who competed were told to change to any clothes of their choice upon their return to Nobel. Mr Nigel soon had a briefing with all the students, warning them and advising them to prepare for the possibility of rain on Sports Day. Mr Narish apologized for the change in plans, emphasizing the need for student safety. Originally, the management planned to hold the rehearsals despite the rain, but due to the inclement weather, the rehearsal was called off and many of the rehearsals were done at Nobel International School.
Sports Day 2018
The Sports Day 2018 took place on Thursday, 29th March 2018, at the Panasonic Stadium, Shah Alam.
On the day of Sports Day 2018, Wei Yiang was told not to hang his Sports Day banner by Ms Lim in order to give the current students a chance. The decision was criticized by the Bullseye members who told Wei Yiang to hang the banner behind the railings at the stands.
Bullseye did poorly, especially among newer students and amid the rising athleticism of Touchdown's athletes who won the Sports Day.
Bullseye's loss in the Sports Day dealt a blow to Wei Yiang, who was planning for a 2018 comeback for Bullseye.
Aftermath
Founder's Run
Bullseye's Founder's Run victory obtained it the start of an eight-year Founder's Run victory streak, comprising of the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. At the same time, this also allowed Bullseye to reflect on its weaknesses while dealing with future Sports Days.
Reactions to the Sports Day results
It is a myth and belief that the winner of the previous year's Nobel Cup will be the winner of Sports Day. Since Touchdown won the 2016 Nobel Cup, it was bound to win the 2017 Sports Day. The Bullseye victory of the 2017 Nobel Cup was about to pave the way for the 2018 Nobel Cup success; but this did not happen.
The loss of Bullseye appeared to uphold the belief and control of the narrative by the management, allowing the Management team to win additional points. Critics criticized Ms Chia Bee Yong for using Touchdown as a bargaining chip to stop Wei Yiang and the Bullseye members.
Goal for Sports Day 2018
The goal of Bullseye is to win the Sports Day 2018 and make it a replacement for 2017.
SPORTS DAY
<<< 2017 Sports Day 2018 Sports Day 2019 Sports Day >>>
[preceding event] [current Sports Day] [succeeding event]
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FOUNDER'S RUN
<<< 2017 Founder's Run 2018 Founder's Run 2019 Founder's Run >>>[preceding event] [current Founder's Run] [succeeding event]
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NOBEL CUP
<<< 2017 Nobel Cup 2018 Nobel Cup >>>
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