Over 500 competitors for Fun Run

S M Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent

Over five hundred schoolchildren from Kandy under the age of 16 will participate in the ‘Fun Run’ being part of a series of events organized by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka in association with the Department of Education, Army, Police and other government departments, said the Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake.

He said this when he addressed the media at the Chief Minister’s Office at the Kandy Kachcheri on Tuesday afternoon.

He said this is an unique event held for the first time in Sri Lanka and for the 17th time in Asia and is supported by the government of Korea which is expected to host the next Asian Games.

He said that the hill capital is privileged to host this unique event which will be held in Kandy on November 3 and 4 at the auditorium of Dharmaraja College as the main venue. Apart from the ‘Fun Run’ there will be a Quiz competition and a competition for young reporters and the two winners will have opportunity of witnessing the Asian Games in a all found trip.

Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake said that the progrmame will commence Saturday November 3 at 9 am with the Reporters programme in which fifty schoolchildren from schools in Kandy will participate at the Dharmaraja College Auditorium. This programme is aimed at selecting the ‘Best Young Reporter’.

The first day’s programme will conclude around 1 pm.

The second day’s programme will commence at 9 am at the Dharmaraja College auditorium and it will be a quiz programme conducted on the same lines as the Young Reporters’ programme.

The main event of this programme the ‘Fun Run’ will commence near the Kandy Railway Station at 2.30 pm (November 4) and go through Dalada Veediya, the Lake Round (Sri Sangaraja Mawatha) and end up near the Dharmaraja College auditorium at Buwelikada, Kandy.

Participating at this media briefing were Secretary of NOC Maxwell Perera, members of NOC Gamini Jayasinghe, Tissa Jayasinghe, Director Physical Education Athula Wijesinghe, Medical Officers and members of the Police and the Army who will co-ordinate this programme, with the local Department of Education.