Madras-Colombo Regatta on July 9

by Leslie Fernando

The prestigious annual Madras-Colombo Regatta, the second oldest boat race in the world (the famous oxford-Cambridge Regatta being the oldest) will be held on the Beira Waters, Colombo Rowing Club on July 9. The event is conducted by the Colombo Rowing Club.

The Colombo Rowing Club who created history last year beating Madras Boat Club (MBC) in the 67th edition of the Madras-Colombo Regatta held June 29 on the Adyar River, Chennai, India have begun intensive training on the Beira Water in preparation for the 68th edition regatta to be held next month in Colombo.

Chanaka Wickremasooriya, the captain of Boats and CRC coach said that the team's success last year was due to systematic training and the experience of oarsmen who had completed in Madras before which had helped to work out strategies.

Wickremasooriya added that the CRC crew composed of Devaka Seneviratne Kushal Abeyaratne, Dejan de Soyza, Udesh Hettiarachchi, Mehan Careem, Sheram Kannangara, Mohamed Ali Fatharally, Padma Priyan, Sanjeewa de Silva, Shehan Wanigasooriya, Gayajith Dassanayake, Chamara Kottehewa, Gayan Kaushalya, Mevan Gunawardena, Isuru Perera, Heshan Henry, Chrisan de Silva, M. Gamage, Niranjan Nandas, Lashika Weerasinghe and Mahangu Weerasinghe train on both sessions morning and evening.

The Colombo Rowing Club beat arch rivals Madras Boat Club by 22 points to 20 to retain the Deepam Challenge Trophy for the second successive year. The Colombo Rowing Club won the 'A' Pair, 'B' Pair, 'B' Men's Fours. Madras Boat Club however won the 'A' Scull, 'B' Scull and the Challenge Fours- the main boat race event.

In the Ladies events CRC won the fours and scull, Veterans Fours went to Madras Boat Club. The team was led by national oarsman Diluk Aluvihare and coached and managed by national coach Lakmal Wickremage and John Dinese.