The 51st annual Rowing encounter between Royal College and S. Thomas’ College for the prestigious T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy, will be held on the 22nd of October (Saturday) at Colombo Rowing Club, from 12.30 pm onwards.
This annual event has been revived after a lapse of two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the last time it was held in 2019, the Royal Rowing crew, led by Sajaad Ajmal created history by retaining the T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy for the fifth consecutive year, registering a 32-20 win.
>> Royal row past Thomians to make it 5 in a row
In fact, it is also the longest winning streak by any school in the Royal-Thomian Regatta series, which began in 1962. S. Thomas’ College last held the Trophy way back in 2014.
The total number of points of all races amount to 52 points, and all the events will be 1000-yard boat races.
The 50th Royal-Thomian Regatta held in 2019, which marked its Golden Jubilee, is also the oldest inter-school Rowing Regatta in Sri Lanka.
The Regatta is also the third oldest sporting encounter between Royal and S. Thomas’, after the Battle of the Blues Cricket encounter played for the D. S. Senanayake Shield and the Rugby encounter played for the Michael Gunaratne Trophy.
The overall tally stands as 23 – 22 in favour of the Thomians, whilst 5 encounters have ended in ties.
The Royal-Thomian rowing series of course began with a boat race in 1962 at the Beira Lake, before it was transformed to a Regatta in 1966 with a line-up of six events.
The 51st annual Rowing encounter between Royal College and S. Thomas’ College will be livestreamed on ThePapare.com courtesy MurcLive.com.
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