Ming-Hau Chang and his crew’s rowing glory
Ming-Hau Chang and his crew of marauding oarsmen from S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia handcuffed their perennial rivals from Reid Avenue, Royal College, with some scintillating rowing, which lit up the waters of the Beira Lake and sent them surging to an overwhelming victory, at the 40th Annual Royal-Thomian Regatta.
Both crews battled brutally, giving it their all in an attempt to capture the converted N. T. Fernando Trophy. However it was the Thomians, who demonstrated flawless technique, immense power and supreme confidence, who emerged easy victors.
Dominating proceedings from start to finish, the Thomians left the Royalists in firmly their wake as they won 7 of the 11 races held this year. This year’s Boat Race especially showed everyone just what the Thomian crew is made of.
Leading from the first stroke of the race, S. Thomas’ never gave the Royalists a chance to catch up to them as they won Sri Lanka’s most prestigious boat race with a timing of three minutes and four seconds, with their opponents finishing more than 10 seconds behind them.
Nevertheless, the Royalists cannot be accused of a lack of effort as Ishan Perera and his crew continued fighting till the last stroke, despite the trophy being buried well within their opponents’ clutches by the encounter’s midpoint.
The Under- 16 Royal Coxed Four team had a massive win over their opponents at a very critical point of the Regatta, giving the rest of their crew motivation, which also resulted in the Royalists winning the ‘B’ and ‘C’ category Coxed Four races. Royal also went on to win the ‘B’ category Double Scull race making sure the Thomians didn’t get away with a clean sweep.
Oarsman of the regatta, Sundesh Bartlett from S. Thomas’ put on an outstanding exhibition to contribute 26 of the total 40 points recorded by the Thomians. He won all three of his races with some sublime showings in the ‘A’ category Single Scull, the ‘A’ category Double Scull and the main Boat Race.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Captain of the S. Thomas’ crew, MingHau Chang said that after last year’s victory, the crew had anticipated a win this year too. Even though they had not started off the season strongly, the whole crew picked up the intensity and trained harder during the later months to help them win in the end. “The regatta itself was a big hurdle as the Royalists are always worthy opponents and give us a good fight. I thank God for helping us this year,” Chang concluded.- Sonja Candappa
Pix by Indika Handuwela