Royal College rowing crew managed to up-lift the T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy, by outclassing their arch rivals, St. Thomas' college at the 38th annual Royal Thomian regatta. In the process the royal crew was able to win the 42nd boat race as well. The event was held at the Colombo Rowing Club on Saturday, 22nd October 2011 from 2.00 pm onwards.
The regatta was a full of excitement and both crews staged very close races but St. Thomas' crew won only one event - junior double scull which carries 4 points. The rest of the races were won by the Reed avenue boys recording a 48-4 victory.
One special incident in the regatta was both junior and senior fours were rowed under lights. Junior four was rowed at about 6.30 and the senior four, which is the boat race - 42nd this time, was started at about 7.00 pm. This was a newly added feature to the sri lankan rowing and which certainly helped both crews to hit new records in timings by providing favorable rowing conditions. This time regatta was organized by the Royal College.
Regatta format:
Races were rowed down in a 1000 yards course. Regatta is composed of 10 races, out of 2, which carry no points, in fact exhibition races. The remaining 8 races are further categorized as junior(4) and senior(4) races.
Ladies College won the 8th annual Ladies - Musaeus regatta to 41 - 11, grabbing the Mary Museaus Higgins Trophy (Overall Regatta) for the 5th occasion.
It's been confirmed the "LC MC regatta" will be held on 14th of October 2011(Friday) at Colombo Rowing Club(CRC) form 2.00 pm onwards.
The 8th annual
regatta between Ladies College-Colombo and Museaus College-Colombo,
renowned as LC MC regatta, will be held on 15th of October(most likely)
2011 on the waters of Beire Lake, Colombo. Last year's championship was
won by Museaus College.
38th Royal Tomian Regatta
The regatta between the two schools, Royal College-Colombo and St. Thomas' College-Mt. Lavinia is to held on the 22nd of October 2011(most likely) at the Colombo Rowing Club premises. The defending champions, Royal will fight to retain their title, while thomians striving to lift the T N Fernando trophy for the 19th time in their history. The races will be rowed on a 1000 yards course, beire lake.
The 27th rowing nationals was held on 15th, 16th and 17th of September 2011 on the waters of Bolgoda lake, panadura. After about 10 years of disappearance, Sri Lanka Army also took place in this event making the total number of participation to 17 teams and more than 300 contestants.
The regatta was conducted under age categories, which are:
under 16
under 19
over 19
open
And in each category, races were for both men and women.
After three days of exciting races, the regatta was ended up with the following results:
MEN'S
Category
First place
Second place
Third place
Open
Sri Lanka Air Force
Colombo Rowing Club
Sri Lanka Navy
Over 19
Sri Lanka Air Force
Sri Lanka Navy
University of Moratuwa
Under 19
Ananda College
Royal College
St Thomas’ College
Under 16
St Thomas’ College
Royal College
Ananda College
WOMEN'S
Category
First place
Second place
Third place
Open
Ladies College
Colombo Rowing Club
Museaus College
Over 19
SL Army
University of Moratuwa
Kothalawala Defense University
Under 19
Ladies College
Colombo Rowing Club
Bishops College
Under 16
Ladies College
Colombo Rowing Club
Museaus College/Bishops College
Under 19 men's coxed fours finals: Ananda College winning the race.
Open men's cox-less fours finals: Sri Lanka Air Force winning the race by a split second beating St. Thomas' College.
Mora Rowing Crew:
This time, moratuwa men's crew(mora) went to the regatta without their seniors rowing, but still managed to grab some medals showcasing some promising talents. their main focus was on the "Over 19" Category and after a close race they were beaten by the "Sri Lanka Air Force-A" in the coxed fours event. The crew was;
Samantha de Silva(B), Dinesh Kasunjith(3), Thilina Buddika(2), Charuka Kavinda(S) and Dasun Madushan(cox)
Along with that Samantha De Silva(B) and Charuka Kavinda(S) won the bronze medal in the Over 19 coxless pairs event too.
The two medals were meant lot to the crew as these oarsmen are just having one year of experience. So it is quite sure that these young talents will achieve new heights in the rowing arena in Sri Lanka as the time goes on. At the same time, another crew of the mora took part in the "open coxless fours" event but managed to cross the finish line at 4th.
Initiating a new chapter in Mora Rowing, the women's crew managed to win a gold medal at this national regatta in the "Over 19" category. As this was the 1st time in mora rowing history, Nuwanthika Rajapakshe(S) and Radhavi Samarakoon (B) were able to race their coxless pair down the 2000m course and emerge 1st at the finish line.
At the same time Nuwanthika Rajapakshe(S), Ashanthi Fernando(3), Udari de Alwis(2), Radhavi Samarakoon (B) and Nithini Thenuwara(Cox) were able to win the silver medal in the "Over 19" coxed fours event, advancing form the bronze they won last year.
Meanwhile Udari de Alwis(S) and Ashanthi Fernando(B) managed to win the bronze medal in the "Over 19" double sculls, which helped the team to secure the 2nd place in the women's over 19 category.
Winning three medals at the nationals is a remarkable achievement of the mora women's team, not only because this is the first time in the history of mora rowing, but also this has been their second year in rowing.
