Marathon in Jaffna after 30 long years

Bernard Perera in Jaffna

The Youth of Jaffna will for the first time get the opportunity of participating and witnessing a marathon run in the peninsular after a lapse of over thirty years when the Nestle Marathon is conducted there on March 6. The Nestle Lanka Limited conducted this event on an earlier occasion but could not continue with it due to various difficulties that occurred during the past .

With Peace achieved few months ago and the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa making every effort to have peace through sport has fully supported the idea of conducting this event, said Commander of the Jaffna Peninsular major general Mahinda Hathurusinghe addressing the media in Jaffna on Tuesday.

He said that peace has no barriers and the we have achieved peace through various sacrifices should be continued with this kind of activities.

The event organized by Nestle Lanka will brighten the future of the youth here for which we are giving a big helping hand to make this a success.

He further added that the marathon is expected to attract over 5000 competitors and it is a going to make history as the biggest event to be run here in Jaffna.

He thanked the organizers and the sponsors for deciding to have this event for the benefit of the youth of the ares.

Police Department play a vital role when it comes to marathon events which are run through the streets and towns, it is part of our duty to see the runners are given the opportunity to run with minimum of obstacles, said the Deputy General of Police Gamini Abayakoon addressing the mediamen.

He said that on two earlier occasions he was involved with events in two different parts of the country and it is not a new experience for me, I will whole heartedly support this cause as it has helped the youth of other areas before and now it has come to an area to give the youth an opportunity that they have never experienced in their lives.

He will co-chair the Organizing Committee along with Major General Hathurusinghe.

The Mayor of the Jaffna Municipal Council Mrs D. Logeshwari said that it is sure to give the youth in Jaffna the chance to participate in an event they have only heard but not seen for many years specially the school children will be looking forward to this event as one of their biggest in their lives. She said that peace has dawned and it is our duty to protect the same this can be achieve only through this sort of sporting activities.

During the short period of peace had in the past then mayor Mr Anandarajah in a bid to celebrate the same organized a football match with the Police and he had to pay the penalty by sacrificing his life the following day. But the present situation does not show that sort of dangers and that will help everyone to be a part of this event without any fear, said the Mayor.

Secretary Sri Lanka Athletic Association Prema Pinnawala said that this event will pave the way for the Association to find new talent for this event. In the past the Jaffna has produced many National level athletes who represented the country at international level. But the in the past few decades situation was not conducive for the sporting activities with the arrival of peace things are back to normal and the youth here given an opportunity to make their appearance in the sporting field and to make way to the national level and to represent the country in the near future.

He also said that in the very near future the Association is making arrangements to hold a national leve athletic meet in the Peninsular.

External Affairs Manager, Nestle Lanka Limited Bandula Egodage who has been a leader in organising the marathon under banner ‘Nestomalt Mini Marathon’ for the last 25 years said that this marathons have been able to produce good results. This became the stepping stone for long distance runners in the country. The winners of this event in the past years have reached the national level and also had the credit of winning medals at international meets. Some of them have even participated in the Olympics.

The past record for the Nestomalt Marathon is great and this year too we hope to find new talent from Jaffna to make their way to the athletic scene on a grand scale to challenge the other competitors from the country and to reach the required standards.

He said as in the past there will be four events run concurrently for school boys and girls over 14 and Men and Women Open events.

The event is open only to the participants of Jaffna Peninsula. This decision was taken with a view to introduce the event to the youth of Jaffna said Egodage.

The winners of the events will be awarded trophies, cash awards and many other gift packs.