A Dominant Royal College rowing crew put up a strong performance, breaking a three year drought to reclaim the overall trophy and the Crossed Oars for the Boat Race, as they won all but one of their races in the 42nd annual Royal Thomian Regatta worked off at the Colombo Rowing Club today.
Photo Album – Royal Thomian Regatta 2015
Royal College got off to a great start as Hashen Hettigoda took advantage of a poor course set by his opponent Saliya Gunasekara to register victory in the Senior Sculls event. Hashen Weerakkody then comfortably won the Junior Sculls beating out Deshitha Hennanyake, who had an even worse drift off course, to give Royal a 8 – 0 lead
S.Thomas’ struck back in the junior pairs event as Suramba and Senal managed to overcome in a close race, halving the Royalists lead.
A strong headwind was causing the inside course boats to drift severely out of course and with the outside course boat having won all three races so far, a worrying trend was starring to form. However the crews had to deal with a far more pressing issue as the weather worsened and the heavens opened up.
The Senior pair was delayed but as the weather showed no signs of relenting soon, the boats were asked to row in the adverse conditions. Royal College found themselves in the inside course and like those before them, found themselves drifting off course as the Thomians Saliya Gunasekara and Ramith Nanayakkara looked like they would be taking the race easily. They weren’t prepared for the Royalists take home stretch however, as they surged forward in the final stretch to narrowly pip the Thomians to the finish line.
Royal then went on to claim the Senior Double Sculls with relative comfort and then staved off their opponents in a much closer race to win the Junior Double Sculls , getting an unassailable 28 points, ensuring that they would be reclaiming the trophy after a three year hiatus.
A number of delays due to the inclement weather meant that darkness was setting in on the Beire Lake as the two Fours were worked off. The lack of visibility didn’t affect the to-be-crowned victors however, as they stormed home to take the junior Four, before coming from behind in the all important Boat Race to power home for a win, finishing both race and regatta in style.
A Sculls- Hashen Hettigoda (RC) beat Saliya Gunasekara (STC)
B Sculls –Hashen Weerakkody (RC) beat Deshitha Hennayake (STC)
A Pair –Sajid Ajmal/Praveen Hapugalle (RC) beat Saliya Gunasekara/Ramith Nanayakkara (STC)
B Pair –Senal Senevirathne/Suramba Serasinghe (STC) beat Kavinda Mathew/Dehan Atapattu (RC)
A Double Scull- Promod Rajaguuru/Hashen Hettigoda (RC) beat Arjun Wikramanayake/Chirath Dassanayake (STC)
B Double Scull –Lasaru Kudaligama/Kaveen Rajapaksha (RC) beat Kemil Peter/Deshitha Hennayake (STC)
B Four – Lasaru kudaligama/Kaveen Rajapaksha/Praveen Weerakody/Thimesha Amaresena/Avishka Jayaweera (RC) beat Deshitha Hennayake/Zev Pestonjee/Kemil Peter/Amrith Peiris/Wishmitha Peiris (STC)
Boat Race –Praveen hapugalle/Prathap Perera/Amrith Fernando/Sajid Ajmal/Kaveen Rajapaksha (RC) beat Senal Senevirathne/Suramba Serasinghe/Ramith Nanayakkara/Saliya Gunasekara/Wishmitha Peiris (STC)
