The rowing crew representing the Colombo Rowing Club will be heading off to Madras, India to participate in the 78th Madras Colombo regatta which will commence from 21st July and will span for a week. This year’s crew comprises 20 members.
The Madras Colombo Regatta was inaugurated in the year 1898 by the Madras Boat Club and is known for being one of the oldest inter-institutional boat races in the world. It is noteworthy that this year, the regatta marks 118 years of this friendship and rivalry between two of the oldest rowing clubs in the region. This regatta will have both men’s and women’s categories and each category has a scull race, double scull race, pair race and four race and the winners are decided on a point system.
The crews train for months and go through a gruelling selection process to represent their respective clubs and whether the crews are racing down the Beira lake in Colombo or Adyar in Chennai, Madras Colombo has always had a high standard of competition.
This year’s crew will be led by Sajeev De Silva, one of the most experienced campaigner. Sajeev will lead a 20-man crew heading into the regatta. Speaking to ThePapare.com he said, “The crew has been working hard for the past three months aiming for the 78th Madras Colombo regatta and we are confident that our crew will be able to face the competition at the regatta. Last year, men’s team could not win the final events but our women’s team were able to win most of the events and the most important thing is we have ensured that all strong members are being put onto our boats”.
The crew comprises Ishara Abbey, Nihara Warawita, Ashvini Subasinghe, Shehan Muthugala, Kaveen Rajapakse, Praveen Hapugalle, Suramba Serasinghe, Praveen Weerakkody, Suhith Alexander, Saliya Gunasekara, Ruven Weerasinghe, Hashen Weerakkody, Lasaru Kudeligama, Davina Koch and Samaakhya Gajanayake adding to the more experienced side of oarsmen and women for the rowing club crew.
Representing the masters segment for the 78th Madras Colombo regatta will be Nalin Premarathne, Dr Chanaka Talpahewa, Ruwan Abehyaratne and Lasantha Welikala.
Furthermore, captain Sajeev De Silva added, “despite being from different backgrounds, the crew has a good bond and coordination which makes us a strong team and we also have put a lot of hard work into this regatta and we look forward to having a great regatta this year.
We wish Sajeev and his crew best of luck for the 78th Madras Colombo regatta.
