Madampa Central College, Amabalangoda and Mahamaya College, Kandy completed a hat-trick of wins since 2013 when the historic 78th Annual Mount Lavinia Sea Swim 2015 concluded at the Mount Lavinia Hotel yesterday.
S. Tharindu Udayanga of Madampa Central ensured last year’s silver medalist C.M.N. Hulangamuwa maintain his silver by a neat three-minute lead while B. Dilanka Shehan of Nalanda College settled for the bronze in the men’s open category. Dilendra Ratnayake and Brinstan Peiris secured the top two slots for St. Jospeh’s to win the Under 15 Boys overall title while Sasindu Ravishka Peiris of Madampa Central came in third.
However, both the open and under 15 overall women’s category was won by the Mahamaya girls with the most amount of its swimmers finishing in the top 25 which contribute towards the overall points. The former Mahamaya swimmer Sunethra Wijeratne now swimming for the Sri Lanka Navy had to settle for silver again with Uththama Silva of Mahamaya College and Lashini Rajasinghe of Southlands College, Galle grabbed the Gold and Bronze respectively.
In the Under 15 girls event last year’s winners exchanged places with Chenuri Fernando of Bishop’s College getting ahead of Nikoli Bandara with Maheshika Hewage both of Mahamaya in second and third places respectively.
The sea swim conducted by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union, the national controlling body witnessed a total of 996 swimmers taking to the sea with 589 men and 49 women in the open category, 159 boys and 64 girls in the under 15 category completed the two mile distance within the specified time of 90 minutes. A total of 65 masters veteran swimmers also relived their sporting spirit swimming in the Masters One-Km held for the second successive year on along with the junior and the women’s event which were conducted on Saturday 28th February.
S.M. Chandrapala of Kinross Swimming and Life Saving Club and Dorothy Mihindukulasuriya of Singhalese Sports Club retained their positions as the oldest male and female swimmer for a second successive year, while W.K.S. Viduranga of Sri Lanka Army completed a hat-trick as the differently-abled swimmer of the special awards on offer at the event. Sri Lanka Army also stamped its dominance with a 100+ team as the best team performance among the defence services.
Dr. Harsha De Silva, Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Development graced the occasion as Chief Guest with Rear Admiral Sisira Jayakody of the Sri Lanka Navy as Guest of Honour. Minister De Silva in a congratulatory speech to the winners recounted his association of his roots being from Ambalangoda and that many successful swimmers from this area continue to stamp their dominance proving that sheer will is more important than training resources.
The annual event was organized by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union along with the Mount Lavinia Hotel as the sponsor with the support of the Sri Lanka Navy and the Coastguard Services at sea.
