Walala dominate 4X800m with 4 new records

The 4X800m finals which was held on the second day of the All Island Schools Relay Championship 2018, was swept clean by Walala A Ratnayake College managing to win all four finals with a new meet record time.

The second day of the championship got on to an energetic start with the 4X800m finals being conducted as the opening events of the day. Undisputed leader in middle and long distance running in the local school’s arena, Walala A Ratnayake College showcased their dominance as they displayed their brilliance and the depth in the talent they possess in their ranks as they went on to win the Boy’s & Girl’s 4X800 finals in both Under 18 & Under 20 categories.

In the U18 Boy’s 4X800m final St Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya were the favorites coming into the final having run a new meet record timing of 8:31.3 in the heats yesterday. But the Walala quartet had different ideas as they ran a superb race in a new record time of 8:13.7sec. The Peterites despite bettering their own record running 8:23.1 were convincingly outrun by the Walala runners. In the Girl’s final Walala Girls were far ahead of the rest of the competition clocking a new meet record time of 9:57.2 and were on a class of their own with Sir John Kotalawela College Kurunegala and Sri Ratnapala Mv Anamaduwa winning the second and third place clocking 10:39.4 & 10.59.3 respectively.

Dilishi Kumarasinghe gathered her second Gold medal of the Championship anchoring Walala to a new meet record victory in the U20 4X800m clocking 9:42.3n in a race where the Walala quartet dominated as they had built up a sizable lead coming into the final lap. The boy’s U20 4X800m final was a very keenly contested affair with Walala quartet receiving stiff competition from St Peter’s College Colombo and St Sylvester’s College, Kandy. Despite the early pressure by the Peterites and the Sylvestians, Walala quartet kept their composure to execute their race plan to win Gold with a new meet record clocking ma time of 7:59.5min. St. Peter’s College were placed second with Sylvestians finishing third. Both teams bettered the previous meet record clocking 8:16.6 and 8:17.6 respectively.

With the finals of the 4X800m being completed in the first session of the day, the rest of the day consisted of heats and semi-finals of events which saw teams battling for a spot in the finals. The third and final day of the All Island Athletic Championship will be action packed with 23 finals lined up on the closing day.

Log on to Sri Lanka’s #1 Sports hub as we will be bringing you the thrilling action as it happen at the All Island School’s Relay Championship from the Vincent Dias Stadium, Badulla.