Diyatalawa will go gay today

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN Kandy Sports corr.

Diyatalawa lying in the Uva Valley will go gay when the 17th version of the Foxhill Supercross organised by the Sri Lanka Military Academy in association with the Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders will be worked of at the Foxhill supercross track within the military complex at Diyatalawa today, Saturday April 18th commencing at 8 a.m.

The supercross track at Foxhill had its birth when a German National and some of his Army friends were enjoying an evening at Foxhill in 1992.

Racing enthusiast

The German National and a motor racing enthusiast Hans Ralf while enjoying the evening had his mind on an imaginary supercross cross track in a wonderful setting.

He conveyed his ideas to his Army friends who in turn got the message to the high command and approval was obtained for the construction of a motor racing dirt track in the Foxhill area.

Around this time Foxhill which lies within the Military training complex shot into fame for another reason which received islandwide attention and large crowds started pouring into the area when a rumour was spread that a volcano was about to erupt at Foxhill.

This was when smoke and fire started emanating from underneath and people even lit cigarettes from this fire.

There was fear and panic as it could do mass destruction.

But geologists who visited the area put an end to this fear as they confirmed that the location of Diyatalawa is not prone to Volcanos and it was only ‘burning peat’ which had remained underground for many years.

Volcano fears

Perhaps some firing by the Military personnel during practices could have ignited it. This put an end to the volcano fears.

No racing event in the island has grown in stature as the Foxhill Supercross and every year the crowds keep increasing and like the Army discipline the events are worked strictly to schedule, and at time ahead of schedule and by 2 p.m. the latest the 25 events, the Awards ceremony, other side shows to entertain the crowds is completed.

This includes the constant watering of the track with bowsers to keep away the dust off the track as otherwise the visibility of vehicles following will be obscured and they will have to slow down or even mishaps could take place, and clearing of the track after accidents.

Big feather

This is a big feather in the caps of the organisers as time factor is very important.

Foxhill itself has a history of its own. There are no foxes in Sri Lanka and only jackals.

This popular belief is that there are foxes in Foxhill area hence it is called Foxhill or ‘Nariyakande’ in Sinhala. When you pass Haputale by train and before entering Diyatalawa you can see on the left side up atop a hillock the insignia of a ‘Fox’ and this is a land mark.

The story how this insignia of a fox came to be is that when the Boer War broke out in South Africa in the years 1899-1902 between Great Britain and Dutch Colonists, the British transferred many of their Prisoners of War to many Colonies under their domain in Asia.

Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) was one such country and a batch of prisoners was believed to be brought to this country in a ship “HMS Fox”.

This ship in one of its visits had docked in Colombo for repairs and the captain and a part of the crew had made a trip to Diyatalawa where there was a Naval Station.

Hillock

The captain of the ship had climbed the hillock close to the Naval station and in remembrance of their visit with the assistance of Boer prisoners had paved with white stones the appearance of a fox. With this depiction of a Fox on this hill, this area came to be called the Fox Hill. The Foxhill Supercross is almost at the foot of the Fox Hill.

The Foxhill supercross in addition to providing entertainment to the motor racing fans and also builds up good relationship with the public.