Two heavyweights in the schools rowing arena are set to battle it out once again as S. Thomas’ and Royal take their traditional rivalry onto the Beire Lake this Saturday, for the 41st Annual Royal Thomian Regatta and 45th Boat Race.
A History
The rivalry between the two schools was first extended into the rowing arena in 1962, with the inception of the Royal Thomian Boat Race – a single race between the best Fours from each school. A complete regatta was conceived around this race four years later and has continued since as one of the premier events of the local rowing season. In its current form the regatta consists of 11 races for 52 points, with the victor laying claim to the coveted T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy. The original Boat Race contributes to the regatta –being worth the most points- but also holds a prestige of its own, with the ‘Crossed Oars Trophy’ that is awarded for winning it ranking on par with the overall trophy in terms of importance and prestige.
The regatta will consist of eight races rowed for points and three exhibition fours. Two races are rowed in each type of boat – Sculls, Double Sculls, Pairs and Fours, with the senior fours event also doubling as the all-important Boat Race. All races are rowed over a distance of 1000 yards.
Tally
T. Noel Memorial Trophy | RC 15 – 20 STC
Crossed Oars Trophy | RC 19 – 25 STC
|
Type of Boat |
How to identify |
Race |
Points |
|
|
Sculls |
One oarsman in a boat with two oars |
A Scull |
6 |
|
|
B Scull |
2 |
|||
|
Pairs |
Two oarsmen in a boat with one oar each. |
A Pair |
8 |
|
|
B Pair |
4 |
|||
|
Double Sculls |
Two oarsmen in a boat with two oars each. |
A Double Scull |
8 |
|
|
B Double Scull |
4 |
|||
|
Fours |
Four oarsmen and one coxswain in a boat |
A Four |
12 |
The Boat Race |
|
B Four |
8 |
|
||
|
C Four |
– |
Exhibition |
||
|
Under 16 Four |
– |
Exhibition |
||
|
Old Boys’ Four |
– |
Exhibition |
Defenders
Having won both the Regatta and the Boat Race convincingly last year, S. Thomas’ College will be bringing all the important silverware for this year’s event. They will be hoping that the trophies will still be with them on the return trip from the Colombo Rowing Club at the end of the regatta.
The Thomians are captained by Anuradha Nadaraja a veteran in this regatta, having rowed in it four times already and looking to complete his fifth and final effort by leading his crew to victory. He will be leading a crew that has a blend of both vast experience as well as new faces. The crew has had a good season this year, showing improvement throughout the regattas they have participated in, culminating in them bagging the under 20 championship in the National Schools Regatta held last month. The Thomian A Four in particular has shown itself to be quite strong, and has already beaten its Royal counterpart in the aforementioned National Schools Regatta. They will be hoping for a repeat performance in the Boat Race but will be aware that a Royal- Thomian is an entirely different kettle of fish where past results are rarely relevant.
Full collection of Photographs of the team
The Crew: Anuradha Nadaraja (Captain), Sandesh Bartlett (Vice Captain), Ramith Nanayakkara, Ming-Hua Chang, Kemil Peter, Amrith Peiris, Vishan Gunatilleka, Saliya Gunasekara, Meshach Peiris, Adrian de Silva, Wishmitha Peiris, Akarsha Weerasooriya, Deshitha Hennayake, Dharaka Peiris, Daniel Bartholomeusz, Niran Warawita, Ashan Walpola, Chirath Dassanayake, Senal Senevirathne, Duvin de Mel, Zev Pestonjee, Jineth Perera, Navike Ediriwira, Visura Silva, Avinash Rajaguru, Aidan Tissera, Sean Ratnayeke, Manoj Devasudan, Kenan Slemmermann
The Challengers
If any crew could spoil the Thomian party it would be the boys from Reid Avenue. The Royalists are led by Lahiru Herath this year, and he will be determined to add another notch to the Royal tally in both the Regatta and the Boat Race. They have had a decent season this year that culminated in winning the under 18 category and coming runners up in the under 20 category in the Schools National Regatta. Their strengths lie in their small boats, especially in the sculls event where they will be represented by Hashen Hettigoda who was adjudged the best schoolboy sculler in this year’s Rowing Nationals. After how events unfolded at the Schools National Regatta they will be going into the Boat Race with the tag of under dogs, but both improvement and change in personnel may have happened in the interim period, making it impossible to really call this race before hand.
Full collection of Photographs of the team
The Crew: L. Herath (Captain), B. Hassan (Vice Captain), P. Rajaguru, K. Rajapakse, A. Fernando, K. Ranasinghe, J. Hapugalle, R. Karunasundara, I. Rambukwella, B. Dias, U. Kuruppu, D. Atapattu, J. Rockwood, C. Wijetilleke, L. Kudaligama, L. Gamage, A. Jayaweera, K. Mathew, D. Kumarasinghe, H. Hettigoda, K. Kannangara, P. Perera, S. Ajmal, A. Sourjah, P. Hapugalle, Mr. K. Abeyratne (Assistant Coach), Mr. M. Rifath (Assistant Coach)
Watch out for
(Barring strategic draws that are usually frowned upon) The A Scull is likely to see Hashen Hettigoda of Royal go up against Vishan Gunatilleka of S. Thomas’. Both scullers are among the best in the schools arena right now, and have come up against each other in a few occasions this year already. This will be the race that matters however, and it promises to be an enthralling spectacle. It will be one of the first races of the day and could well set the tone for the rest of the regatta
The Boat Race is obviously the marquee race at this regatta, and the allocation of points means that it also decides the outcome of the entire regatta more often than not. The final race of the day, this is guaranteed to be the most hyped up event of the day’s proceedings.
www.thepapare.com will be live streaming the event .
Royal College Captain and Secretary
St.Thomas College Captain and Vice Captain
