The second day of the 85th Sir John Tarbet Athletic championships were concluded despite heavy showers. Eight new meet records were established today which doubled those of day one.
Day one of the championship produced four new meet records even in heavy rain where the officials only managed to complete six events.
Day Two
The second day produced eight new meet records which was indeed a commendable effort by the participants who were superseding expectations and escalating the competition.
The first record for the day came off Isuru Akalanka of Horana Royal College who finished his 5000m under20 pace walking event in just 24.40.6min. U.N.M Deshapriya of Palawela Sri Rathnayake Vidyala came second in the event when he clocked a time of 24.49.9min. The previous record for the event was held by S.C.Bangamuwage of Makadura Central College and the record was set in the year 2013.
The golden lady from Abamgamuwa Central College Yamani Dulanjali who recently won the gold medal at the Asian Youth Championships set a new meet record today in the under 18 400m hurdles event as she clocked a time 1.00.92min. Her second record came off in much more genre when she clocked 24.91sec in the under 18 200m event. Coming to Colombo from a background of hardship her efforts should be highly commended.
The fourth new meet record came off in the boys’ category of the 400m hurdles as Uditha Chandrasena of Maristella College, Negembo clocked 53.04sec and etched the winning line. Anura Dharshana came second in the event recording a time of 54.54sec while Shehan Lahiru of Maristella College clocked 56.25sec to claim the third place.
Asiri Wijesekara of Gateway College, Colombo has been an athlete who has been owning his event of 200m under 18 for quite some time. The fifth record of the second day was established by him when he clocked a time of 21.97sec. Sachith Niaksha of Nalanda College, Colombo came second in the event finishing it at 22.35sec.
The sixth record was owned by a girl from Colombo who finished her 800m under20 girls` event in just 2.14.38min. Nishanthi Dilhani of Lumbini College, Colombo broke the previous record which was set at 2.15.70min.
The final two records for the day were both fallen under the category of relay 100×4. Both the records were set by the lads of St.Benedicts College, Kotahena. The under 16 relay team finishing their event in just 44.23sec set the first one while the under 18 relay team clocked 42.94sec to set the second record.
Even though the organizers expected to have everything running smooth, there were many complaints from the athletes on some of the logistics where no proper tent or a places were available for the athletes to have lunch away from the rain etc reducing them to eating under umbrellas.
