Two Mile Sea Swim at Mount Lavinia
Ashraff A Samad - Dehiwela-Mt Lavinia special corr
Mount Lavinia Hotel in collaboration with The Sri Lanka Aquatic
Sports Union will host the Annual Mount Lavinia Two Mile Sea Swim in
grand style for the 76th year on March 2 and 3, 2013.
The much anticipated event will witness over 700 swimmers between the
ages of 12 and 70 years from over 20 aquatic clubs across the island
take to the waters at the iconic Mount Lavinia Hotel bay on March 2 and
3.
"The two mile sea swim is synonymous with the Mount Lavinia Hotel and
its location and is incidentally one of the oldest open water swimming
competitions in Asia, having seen participants passing down the title
from generation to generation" enthuses Bazeer Cassim, General Manager
Mount Lavinia Hotel. "Riding on a rich heritage spanning 200 years, we
aim to uphold the time-honoured traditions to Mount Lavinia Hotel
through our association with the Two Mile Sea Swim, a much looked
forward to event in our calendar".
"The popularity of open water sea swimming has risen significantly
during the last few years, more recently being raised to the status of
an Olympic sport" notes Nethru Nanayakkara, General Secretary, Sri Lanka
Aquatic Sports Union. "Our goal is to take this event to even greater
heights by providing opportunities for sports enthusiasts to make the
best of recreational activities in an environment conducive to endurance
sports of this nature". The Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union is the
governing body of Aquatic Sports in Sri Lanka for the aquatic sports of
swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water
swimming.
This year will see the unveiling of the annual Two Mile Sea Swim
mascot "Wallace the Whale' in keeping with the competitive and fun
spirit of the event. The mascot is based on the magnificent Blue Whale
which has now become a common sight along Sri Lanka's coast, driving
appeal to our destination as a global hot spot. Hence entwining it as an
iconic symbol of good luck for an event of such caliber is indeed
appropriate. "We wanted a mascot that would highlight the fighting
spirit and essence of such a significant milestone in our event
calendar, have relevance to Sri Lanka and prompt participants and
visitors to have a 'whale of a time' explains Mahika Chandrasena, Group
Manager Corporate Communications of the Mount Lavinia Hotel and Resorts
Group. |