The annual St. Benedict’s College Inter- House Athletic Meet was concluded at the College grounds recently ,with Camillus House winning the Rev. Bro.Alexander Cyrillus Challenge Shield donated by his devoted pupil Saman Upasena, for the Overall Championship with 421 points ,Cassian House coming second with 357 points ,followed by Luke House and Claude House.
The meticulously organized meet was a hard fought competition with some of the best young athletes in Sri Lanka competing to bring honour and glory to their their respective Houses , cheered on loudly by their supporters .
The standard of Athletics was of a very high level, with the most outstanding performances coming from Shalika Santhush Weerasinghe , winning the Best Performance Award for Track Events-Senior , for his winning time of 21.80 secs in Under 17- 200 meters and Mahela Heshan Jayatissa for Field events for his distance of 13.76m in Under 20 -Triple Jump.
The best performers among the Juniors were Pramuditha Mihirange for Track - Under 15-100 meters Hurdles and Sudev Mithakshara for Field- Under 15-Long Jump. The Relay Championship was won by Camillus House with Luke House coming in second place.
The Champion Athletes in the Age Group Segments were : Under 12- Andrew Akesh Anthonyraj (Cassian House), Under 13- A.P. Adams (Camillus House) , Under 14 Hasitha Kaushalya (Claude House) ,Under -15- Pramuditha Weerasinghe (Claude House) , Joint Under 16- Pasindu Madushan Senanayake (Claude House ) and Anuja Prabashwara (Cassian House),Under 17- Shalika Santhush Weerasinghe (Camillus House) ,Under 18- Sahan Thenuka Rajapaksha (Cassian House) and Under 20 – Shammi Lakshan (Luke House).
A part of the Grand Finale was the colourful scene, with the playground packed with athletes and other school boys, parents and families having the privilege of witnessing a magnificent Gymnastic Display by the College Gymnastic Squad and followed later by the March past by the athletes of the respective Houses , Cadets & Scouts marching smartly to the beat of the College Western Band Drummers and closing in, in front of the Rev.Bro. Patrick Alban Pavillon for the final ceremonies and distribution of awards.
The Chief Guest, distinguished Old Benedictine Mr. Rohan Rodrigo, Chief Country Officer, Deutsche Bank, Sri Lanka, spoke with emotion about his school days from 1967 to 1981 and how the education he received at St. Benedict’s made it possible for him to reach the No. 1 position of the Global Bank in Sri Lanka.
He congratulated Bro. Director Henry Dissanayake and the School Management for the phenomenal performances of the SBC Athletes in 2016 and wished the team all the success in the future. Bro. Henry Dissanayake , who just the previous week, held the New Army Chief of Staff Major General Channa Goonetilleke as a role model for the young Benedictines named Mr. Rohan Rodrigo also as a role model for young Bens.
Mr.Rodrigo and Mrs. Renuka Rodrigo gave away the main awards and Master Ravintha Perera, Head Prefect , delivered the Vote of Thanks.The meet ended with the singing of the National Anthem.