Ladies rowing gains popularity

Leslie FERNANDO

From the 15th National Rowing Championship Regatta held in 1998 up to the 25th Regatta held in 2008 the increasing number of oarsmen, oarswomen

and crews participating indicates the gaining popularity of the sport in the country.

In addition to the usual teams from Colombo Rowing Club, Royal College, S. Thomas' College, the University of Colombo and the University of Moratuwa, there were trained crews from the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, St. Joseph's College, Ananda, Air Force and two girls schools from Colombo namely Ladies College and Musaeus College.

Historically the lady rowing activities of the Colombo Rowing Club were performed by schoolchildren and few adult ladies of the two universities and an occasional private member of the club.

One of the Colombo Roving Club's closely associated clubs in Culcutta, India sent out invitation for a school girl team to participate at their annual inter-school Rowing Championships regatta in 1998 and saw girls already in training calling in more students from their respective schools to train for the event.

This was encouraged by the Colombo Rowing Club and the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka (ARASL) and soon the girls from Musaeus and Ladies were in training.

However only the girls from Musaeus were able to make the tour to Calcutta and they performed extremely well to emerge Senior Girls Champions in a regatta which was boasting of a 28 year old history. Spurred on from this success the girls involved in the sport got activated and a new era of ladies rowing dawned in Sri Lanka.

From the humble beginning of a few ladies rowing at the National Championships today the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka are very proud to reflect on the increasing number of ladies participating in the sport. Until the 1999 Nationals the ladies were confined to racing in junior boats for a single scull, a coxed pair and a four only.

But with the advent of the two new rowing sororities it has now become necessary that classifications are included as with the men and the inclusion of an overall trophy which was identified and introduced to help give momentum to this growth by the national body. A head count of ladies in rowing should give us at least a figure close to 75 girls actively involved in rowing.

The ladies have shown themselves equal to the task of handling senior sophisticated equipment by using the newly imported FISA standard boats at local and foreign competition.

In that the ladies have shown their ability to rig (set up) their own boats to suit individual requirements and thereby get the maximum benefit of equipment. Until recent times this was an era which was rarely attempted by even the men.

This is a clear indication of their commitment to the sport and that they are willing to grow with the global development of the sport. In fact girls schools have already imported boats for its girls and have pledged to get more with the next batch of imports.

This is an area needing the assistance of the government by offering the same standards of duty applicable to other sports in Sri Lanka which would make it more affordable for purchase.

The ARASL is currently identifying men and women to form a National Rowing Squad and have identified around ten girls measuring up to specifications. Of course this is not conclusive but a very strict training programme will be implemented and only the physically and mentally strong individuals will survive.

Those who are involved in the sport know the demand on these areas and are no doubt willing to perform given the opportunity and the encouragement.