The 29th National Rowing Championships was concluded on Saturday with the Sri Lanka Armed Forces clinching most of the titles up for grabs.
Two long days of qualifiers led up to a day of great races on Saturday, as the finals of all events were worked off throughout the day. The Open category drew the most interest, and the crowd that assembled to witness the races were not disappointed, as some gripping contests ensued. The biggest upset of the event was probably in the Men’s Open Sculls event, which was largely expected to be a three horse race amongst Guyan Jayaratne of Bolgoda Lake Rowing club, and Shehan Muthugala and Sajeev De Silva of Colombo Rowing Club. Nisanka Somarathne of Sri Lanka Army had other ideas however, as he breezed past Muthugala and Jayaratne in the semi-finals before beating both Jayarathne and De Silva in the finals to take the gold. Muthugala and De Silva combined to give Colombo Rowing Club (CRC) the victory in the Double Sculls event, but it was Sri Lanka Navy that won the category, bagging golds for the Pair and the Cox less Fours,securing the Gerry Silva trophy.
In the Women’s Category it was Sri Lanka Army that came through. R.A.M Dilhari won them the sculls event after holding off a good fight by CRC’s Samaakhya Gajanayake, before the Army four clinched them the title after a clinical display.
Gajanayake may have lost out in the Open, but she showed that she is one of the future stars of Sri Lankan rowing, as she won the Schoolgirl’s Sculls and the Under 18 Sculls with absolute ease. Hashen Hettigoda of Royal College won the Schoolboys Scull, beating Vishan Gunatilleka of S. Thomas’, setting up an interesting narrative for the upcoming Royal Thomian Regatta. Royal College also went on to win the Men’s Under 18 category, while Ladies College won the corresponding women’s category. In the Over 18 category, Sri Lanka Army dominated the Men’s events while Sri Lanka Air Force and University of Moratuwa were declared joint winners of the Women’s category.
