Nilantha sets another abseiling record

A fascination for scaling heights at speed has landed Nilantha De Soyza a 10th abseiling record in Sri Lanka, but he is not about to hang up his trusty ropes.

Nilantha’s latest feat of abseiling down the ‘mini world’s end’ at the Knuckles Mountain range in complete darkness on August 8 has won the young man the admiration of his peers as well as his superiors at the country’s largest apparel exporting group.

Having chosen to make his attempt at eight minutes and eight seconds after 8 pm on August 8, Nilantha completed the abseil in just 45 seconds, setting a daunting challenge for any fellow climber who may follow him.

This was his second abseiling record this year, having climbed down the Diyaluma Falls at Koslanda in just one minute and 25 seconds on Independence Day this year, beating his own previous record of 6 minutes and 12 seconds set in May 2004 by a huge margin.

“The support and sponsorship of Brandix has been an invaluable source of inspiration to me,” the young adventure sports enthusiast said.

Among the other abseiling records held by Nilantha De Soyza are World’s End - Nuwara Eliya (1 hour), Pahiyan Gala - Matugama (18 minutes, 23 seconds), Mini World’s End - Badulla (15 minutes, 45 seconds), Bambarakanda - Badulla (5 minutes, 20 seconds) and Knuckles in day time (40 seconds).