The Straits Times, 1997

This is a picture taken from the Straits Times in an article announcing Kenneth Tan's retirement from world-class competition.

For the better part of a decade, Kenneth dominated the road and track cycling scene in South-East Asia. He won silver medals in numerous occasions at the prestigious South-East Asian Games. He ranked as high as 20th in the world in the 4000 meter pursuit.  He was the only Singaporean to ride in the World Championship. He won the Tour of Singapore four years in a row. He has competed in Europe, where the sport originated from and the best riders in the world compete. This does not include his numerous other victories in stage races in South East Asia. His accolades and accomplishments are numerous. What is important to note is that his achievements did not come as a result of only natural talent.

It does not take a cyclist to tell you that bike riding in Singapore can be tough. With constant traffic congestion over most of the island coupled with the limited space in Singapore, a competitive cyclist must have a strong devotion to the sport. Competitive cycling is also a sport that takes a great deal of investment in time. In order to be able to last well into a 160 km race, one must have ridden such mileage consistently in preparation for the event. During Kenneth's competitive career, he trained six days a week. Most of his time was taken up by training. Riding 5 hours on a weekday was commonplace for a world-class athlete to maintain his condition. This is often done after finishing a full day's work at Shimano, the company he was working for and sponsored by. Many of his competitors and friends stated that a great deal of what Kenneth has accomplished is from his determination to achieve his goals.

Kenneth's entry into competitive cycling was anything but easy. At the age of 10, he was dazzled by the images of the winning rider in the Tour de France crossing the finish line victorious with arms fully extended in exhilaration. Before starting his first race, the Tour of Singapore, at age 15 he had dreamed of himself crossing the line in similar fashion. He soon found outt hat victory takes a lot more than a dream. Before he realized it, he found himself 10 km behind the front riders, and that was at the beginning of the race. However, what is important to note is that this minor defeat did not overpower his ambition to do better. Instead, it provided the motivation for him to go faster and train harder. Soon after, he began riding with the top riders in Singapore at the local Sunday rides. Although it was tough hanging on at first, he soon found himself hanging on a little bit further with every passing week. Before long, Kenneth began realizing his potential and simply rode away from the group at will.

The highlights of Kenneth's racing experience include the following:

Although a great deal of what makes Kenneth great is his natural talent, it does make me wonder that if we all tried hard, we too might surprised ourselves in what we can accomplish.

By Jeffrey Tse