The peak of rowing season is around the corner for the rowers from Musaeus College as they await the opportunity to dominate the Beira waters in the coming weeks.
Rowing has been a prominent sport in Musaeus College for decades and they have been active participants of the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka. Times have not been the best for the oarswomen from Rosemead Place in the recent past, as they have not been able to live up to expectations and have failed to make it to the top of the schools leaderboard. It was misery for the Musaeus rowers when Ladies’ massacred them in the 2013 regatta, winning it 52-0; not sparing a single point. Musaeus improved on their performance in 2014 to some extent but still ended up losing 48-4.
It has been five years since the coveted Higgins trophy had been seen in the trophy cabinet of Musaeus College and the team will go all out to bring it back to Rosemead Place. Musaeus College has had an impressive start to the season, starting at the Head of the Beira regatta earlier this year and are in stable condition ahead of two huge of their biggest challenges; the LC-MC Regatta and the Inter School Rowing Nationals.
The Musaeus rowing team comprises of a combination of experience along with some new faces that made their way to the waters of the Beira earlier this year. Their start to the 2015 season saw them winning the four after a long lapse of five years. They continued their positive approach to the South West Monsoon Regatta, which was an open tournament, where the Musaeus oarswomen took the honors for the Double Scull. The Bolgoda Endurance regatta saw them coming in second place overall and building on their success in the Bolgoda waters, Musaeus College came out as winners in the recently concluded Ranfer Sprints.
An experienced Dilki Wijesekara takes the reigns to lead the Musaeus outfit for the year 2015. Having rowed for her alma mater for over six years, the Beira has become almost a second home for the young rower. The veterans alongside Malki Wijesekara compile a fantastic four who have been rowing together for the past six years.
In the arena of expertise, Dilki will receive valuableinput from Janethri Marapana who captained the side in 2014. Marapana is usually Musaeus’s first choice for the scull and she is tipped to be in the ‘A’ Scull boat in the coming regattas. Marapana had been on the winners list in the scull event when it comes to the LC-MC Regatta but missed out to Ishara Abbey of Ladies’ in the ‘A’ Scull last year. Janethri will be all out to set the record straight this time around.
Skipper Dilki’s twin Malki Wijesekara and Ranuli Wickremasekara strengthen the back-end of Musaeus’ rowing and these four will accompany their freshers in the fours and coxes in the regatta.
Former Thomian oarsman Mark Maurice has Musaeus College under his watchful eyes and in the short span with Musaeus, he has been able to transform an average rowing crew to a force to be reckoned with. In his words, his team has been preparing for this year’s run since last year and believes that all the hard work put in will bear fruit in the end. He believes that the future of Musaeus rowing is in good hand with the juniors working up the ranks. With new equipment coming in, Musaeus has been able to train more professionally; allowing them to increase their efficiency says coach Mark.
With the regatta and the public schools title around the corner, Musaeus College will be hoping to better their disastrous 2014 result and possibly finish in the top three in the national run.
