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SPORTSMAN
307
July14
as I found out best when I started to
run home from work in the evenings
occasionally – it’s about a 20km run.
Bishan Park is five minutes away,
and I’m close to Peirce and MacRitchie
reservoirs and the rainforest: fresh
air, open spaces and no traffic. My
MacRitchie run on a Saturday morning
is a beautiful way to get back to nature.
Also, you get better value for money
with the housing out here. I’m a bit of
a hoarder, so I enjoy having plenty of
space to myself. The space allows me to
have a guest bedroom, a study, a home
cinema and a gym.
Where do you and your
passion for soccer come from?
I was born in Kent, England, but when
I was 11 my family migrated to Florida.
After three years they decided to move
back to the UK and settle in Devon. I
failed to make the grade professionally
at the age of 17, mainly due to injuries,
but then played semi-pro in the local
Southwest England development
leagues throughout university. A
diagnosis of juvenile osteoarthritis
when I was16 effectively put an end to
my professional ambitions.
When did you join Deloitte?
Straight after graduating from Exeter
University, I spent three years with
Deloitte in London, then moved with
them to Prague for nearly six years. After
that came a three-year contract in Africa:
based partly in Lagos, Nigeria and
partly in Nairobi, Kenya, but covering
a huge area from The Gambia down
to Mauritius. After Africa, Deloitte gave
me a choice of location and I chose
Singapore.
Do you run to stay fit for
soccer?
No, running is a separate and long-
standing passion. I play soccer twice a
week, but I run from four to six times a
week. I do the London Marathon every
year; this year’s was my 18th, in a time of
around 3:40 – not my best performance
but another medal earned and a lot of
money raised for charity. I am running
my first NewYorkMarathon later this year.
Do you race much here?
Singapore’s heat and humidity have a
frustrating effect on my times, especially
over longer distances, so I’ve decided
to restrict myself to the 10K events
here. I go elsewhere for half-marathons,
marathons and ultra-marathons.
I love the Angkor Wat half-marathon
and 10K in early December: low
humidity, shade almost all the way, and 5
to 6 degrees cooler than Singapore. The
crowd is wonderfully friendly, too, and
you actually run through the temples.
In February 2013, I ran in the Thailand
North Face 100 Ultramarathon, in and
around Khao Yai National Park, where
a colleague and I comfortably won the
100K Duo category.
How are your knees doing
?
They’re shot, to be frank. If I do too
much, the joints become so badly
swollen with fluid that I can hardly
bend them; the left knee is worse than
the right.
Recently, however, I found a new
trainer and a new way forward: the key
is to give my body a break and to listen
to it. When I go out for a run I take my
bus card with me, so if the twinges start
when I’m 10km from home, I can just
stop. Mind you, sometimes my pride
won’t let me stop!
Soccer is more problematic for the
knees, because of the twists and turns
you have to make and the impact
from kicking the ball. I’ve been taking
glucosamine and omega-3 oils for three
or four years, and I’ve found an effective,
ibuprofen-based anti-inflammatory
cream called Radian B that I get from
the UK.
The men’s team from Deloitte Singapore