S. Thomas’ and Musaeus take the Under-20 titles
The Inaugural Sri Lanka Schools Rowing Championships concluded on September 15 at the Beira Lake, Colombo. The regatta comprised of four age categories in both men’s and women’s segments in the Under- 20, 18, 16 and 14 age groups.
A total of ten schools competed at the regatta which saw two days of intense rowing with races being conducted within minutes of each other. The oarsmen from Royal College led by Sahan and Sanjeewa dominated the Men’s category bagging three championships. They won the overall titles in the Under- 18, 16 and 14 age groups while Amani Tissera and her crew from Ladies College reigned in the women’s category claiming the Under-18 and 14 championships.
Visakha Vidyalaya triumphed in the Under- 16 age group in the women’s category, with a crew of just seven oarswomen. It was S. Thomas’s College Mt. Lavinia and Musaeus College who won the coveted Under- 20 trophies in the men’s and women’s categories respectively. This is particularly was interesting as both the annual Royal- Thomian and the Ladies College vs. Musaeus College regattas are coming up in the next few weeks.
However Ananda College emerged victors of the most exciting event of the competition. The senior ‘A’ Coxed Four of Ananda College beat off competition from the best crew’s of S. Thomas’s, Royal and the Asian International School to win the ‘ Boat Race’ in a breath taking battle that went down to the last stroke. The crew of Ananda College believes that the new ‘ Tandem Rigging’ style they used on their boat was one of the main reasons for their success at this year’s Boat Race. The change saw the ‘ Engine- room’ of the boat rowing on bow-side while the stroke and bow of the boat rowed on stroke-side.
This year’s regatta also saw the come back of the rowing crew from St. Joseph’s College after a lap’s of about three to four years. The new crew led by Aaron John, took everyone by surprise, taking at least one medal each from all age groups. The Bishop’s College crew who won the ASRA regatta held in Pakistan just a few days before the Sri Lanka Schools Rowing Championships, also competed at this regatta and even though the crew suffered from jetlag, they still managed to win medals in almost every age group category.
The Asian International School crew, the only mixed school crew in the rowing scene too did well, wining at least one medal in every age group category. Overall the inaugural Schools Regatta showed much of the school rowing talent and past oarsmen and women who came to watch the races were pleasantly surprised and proud of their juniors. This inaugural Sri Lanka Schools Regatta is also said to be the most organised regatta held up to date, and the race officials hope it will be bigger and better in years to come.