Royal College buried tradition rivals S. Thomas’ College ML when they made a near clean sweep of the 43rd Royal-Thomian Regatta and 47th Boat Race concluded at the Colombo Rowing Club, Beira Lake yesterday.
Royal were so dominant that they won by 50 points to a mere 2 by the Thomians to retain the T Noel Fernando Memorial trophy. After a five-year lapse Royal regained the title last year when they beat the Thomians 48-4, and improved on that effort this year. Out of a total of 11 races worked out yesterday Royal conceded only two points and two races to their rivals who were totally outwitted. Royal’s loss was in the Junior Sculls when Thomian Arjun Wickramanayake finished well ahead of Pasindu Peiris in a time of 3 minutes, 28 secs, four seconds faster than the loser to take the Ajith Goonawardena Trophy.
The only other win for the Thomians was in the Old Boys Four race where the points did not count. The rest of the regatta was all Royal as they swept the board in convincing fashion under the leadership of Kaveen Rajapakse. The Boat Race which is the highlight of the regatta saw Royal comprising skipper Rajapakse, Praveen Hapugalla, Heshan Hettigoda, Prathap Perera and
Avishka Jayaweera on Cox winning in a time of 3 minutes, 08 secs. The Thomian crew who finished 0.5 secs behind comprised Saliya Gunasekara, Suramba Serasinghe, Deshitha Hannayake, Shalinda Jayasekara and Meshach Peiris on Cox. Royal collected 12 points from the win and added a further 8 points with victory in the Senior Scull. Royal were given a fight before winning the Junior Four event for the Eraj Wijesinghe trophy by a mere 0.02 secs clocking 3 minutes, 15 secs.
The winning Royal crew consisted of Lasaru Kudaligama, Charin Wijetileke, Praveen Weerakkody, Thimesh Amarasena and Revata Karunasundara on Cox. Royal also won the Sirisena-Sirimanne Trophy with a comprehensive win in the Senior Double Scull event. Their winning combination of Heshan Hettigoda and Lasaru Kudaligama clocked 3 minutes, 15 secs.