S. Thomas’ pulled off a magnificent performance in the final race of the day to win the 45th annual Royal Thomian Boat Race, ensuring that they also claimed the 41st Annual Royal Thomian regatta in the process.
A day of exciting races built up the suspense for the main event as momentum swung both ways making for a thrilling spectacle. S. Thomas’ College gained the early upper hand as Sandesh Bartlett put in a dominant performance to out row his opponent Bilal Hassen by a significant margin to put up the first points on the board for the Thomians. Royal would have hoped to strike back in the B Sculls as they had their star sculler Hashen Hettigoda in the event. Those hopes seemed justified halfway through the race as he had a big lead over his opponent Saliya Gunasekara. Neither he nor Royal would have anticipated Saliya’s ability to pick up the pace, as he mounted an astonishing comeback to pull off a stunning one second victory giving the Thomians a 8 point lead.
The Thomians carried their good form into the Pairs segments, winning the A pair race comfortably. Royal struck back strongly in the B pairs event to put up their first points on the board.
The double sculls events saw royal really come into their own, as they put in a dominant performance to win the B double scull before holding of the Thomians in what was one of the best races of the day, to win the A double scull by two seconds. This meant that the overall score line was now at 16 a piece, with only the fours traces left.
Royal managed to ride the momentum of their steak of wins in to the B fours race, winning it comfortably and securing the lead in the regatta. With 12 points up for grabs, it was down to the A four in the all important Boat Race to decide the outcome of the regatta. It was to be S.Thomas’ day as their A four put in a master class performance in fading light and light rain, out classing their opponents to claim the Crossed Oars and the T.Noel Fernando trophy for the third year in a row.
Final tally STC 28 – 24 RC
