S. Thomas’ emerge victorious at the Royal-Thomian Regatta
Oct 29 2012.
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“It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of determination and commitment, but the rewards definitely exist and its worth every single sacrifice made” I was fortunate enough to grab that quote from recent Olympic gold medalist and five times World champion Mahe Drysdale at the 48th annual Royal-Thomian Regatta which perfectly summed up in my opinion, a great display of both physical and mental endurance.
Oarsmen from both schools lined up for 8 grueling events on the 27th of October at The Colombo Rowing Club, with an audience that was as enthusiastic as the athletes were, getting ready for an evening full of excitement and close competition. And they were not disappointed.
The regatta itself being one of the biggest rowing events in the country; holds a very important place in the hearts of the rowing community in Sri Lanka. As Isabella Sansoni and Yellani Rasaputhra from the Ladies College rowing crew put it “We never miss the Royal-Thora Regatta and we’ve been coming here since we were kids.
It’s one of the most exciting rowing events in Sri Lanka!” But it’s clear that the Regatta also means so much more to the young athletes who’ve been dedicating their time and effort for months at a stretch, having to balance both school and family along with intense practices.
Pamokya Marambe an old boy from St Thomas’ College, who had come to cheer his team, explained to me how important the competition really is for most of its participants; “The ultimate goal of any oarsmen in either school is to train for the Royal-Thora Regatta. All the other regattas are just stepping stones for this competition which has created many national level oarsmen.”
But I soon found out that the competition itself meant a lot more to the spirit and ethos of the two schools involved, something greater than the mere audience or even the athletes who took part in the events. Everyone understood this, specially the oarsmen who were carrying the hopes and expectations of their respective schools with every stroke of their oar.
Ameen Mohamed, a Royalist, enlightened me on the dynamics between the two schools and the importance this event holds, set against the bigger picture of the sporting background of both schools: “Any Royal Thomian event is important. And this being the 3rd oldest encounter between the two schools, means a lot. Winning this is a huge morale booster not only for the school as a whole, but to all the other sporting teams, basketball, cricket, rugby; to keep pushing harder”. Ameen is indeed correct.
The Royal Thomian Regatta which was started in 1962 carries a lot of history and prestige behind it and has always had a huge impact in terms of all the other sports in the respective schools.
He went on to add that predicting who would win this year was a difficult task “It’s tough, both teams have worked extremely hard and are neck to neck, I’m expecting a good fight, but my heart says Royal would win”. This statement very appropriately demonstrates how divided the crowd was. With ardent and passionate supporters from both sides, almost everyone I talked to had already decided who had won, even before the event was over! I’m sure if a simple poll was taken of the spectators, you would have very easily obtained a 50/50 split.
So to judge for myself, I spoke to two past captains from both teams to get an idea about which team had what it took to outdo the other. Devinda Fernando rowing captain of Royal in 2009 explained to me about how much of an edge Royal has this year and the team’s potential at winning this year’s regatta
“From the start of the season Royal has been doing really well. Also rowing requires not only a lot of physical strength but the mentality, morale and confidence to back it up, which is something we’ve been working on with in the Royal team for the last couple of years….so I think we have a very good chance of winning this year”.
From the Thomian camp, I spoke to Shelan De Livera, last year’s rowing captain on why he thinks St Thomas’ would bag this year’s trophy: “My brother is captaining this year!” he proudly says adding that “This year’s team has had a lot of short distance training. The Beira lake course is relatively short compared to usual regattas and our training this year would give us the edge needed to win”.
I asked Shelan if he had any advice for his brother, to which he responded: “No matter what, WIN the boat race!!” He was of course referring to the coveted and legendary Royal Thomian Boat Race, which is rowed for the “Crossed Oars Trophy” which carries 12 points to the overall score out of the 8 events of the day.
Speaking to a few other spectators, it was clear that the regatta was not only an intense competition between the two schools, but an opportunity to bring both College’s together in a healthy and respected sporting event.
“Im not a rowing fanatic” says Sashini Gomez “I just came to hang out with my friend Vidhushi whose brother is in the Royal crew….and I must say I’m enjoying myself quite a bit. The atmosphere and crowd is just great; Energetic, lively…and great music!” Overall the event itself was a lot of fun not only for the athletes but for everyone who was watching.
Towards the end of the evening, the score was split with 24-12 in favour of St Thomas’ just before the prestigious boat race was about to begin. This meant if St Thomas’ won they would win overall and if Royal were to win, the regatta would end with a tie.
It seemed like Sajin De Livera the current rowing captain of St Thomas’ took his brothers advice quite well along with Anuradha Nadaraja, Ming-Hua Chang, Ramith Nanayakkara and Kemil Peter by winning the boat race with a time of 3 minutes and 4 seconds, beating the Royal team consisting of Arith Cooray, Ishan Perera, Sahan Warnasuriya, Sanjiva Jayasuriya and Kaveen Rajapakse who clocked a time of 3 minutes and 6 seconds, falling short of only 2 seconds.
With this close win, St Thomas’s emerged victorious at the overall regatta bagging the prestigious T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy. Devaka Seneviratne, the proud coach of the St Thomas’ crew explained to me about the winning formula that brought them victory “A lot of hard work and a lot of discipline, I’m extremely proud of what they’ve managed to accomplish, especially because of the positive impact winning will give them and the school.”
It is watching events like the Royal-Thomian Regatta, that test both the physical and mental prowess of individuals and their commitment to push each other’s boundaries through healthy and goodhearted sportsmanship, that serves as source of inspiration the world of sporting has to offer.
Sarani Jayawardena, past rowing captain of Ladies College summed up the entire evening: “It was a super demonstration of rowing by both sides with the boat race being an excellent end to the regatta. It was a fun and exciting evening.”
By Maleen Jayasuriya
Pics by Waruna Wanniarchchi
0 Comments
SunnyBoy says:
Oct 30, 2012 at 08:17 amWell Done ! esto perpetua !!
Asaranakolla says:
Nov 07, 2012 at 06:00 amLook at Royal Thora, these people continuously happening, what happen to Joes!!!