The Blue and Gold oarsmen got the better of the spirited Thomians with a 32-20 win to make it 5 wins in a row at this year’s Royal Thomian Golden Jubilee encounter. The annual Royal-Thomian regatta for the prestigious T. N. Fernando memorial trophy was held for the 50th occasion at the Colombo Rowing Club today.
The first race on the Agenda was the A scull which was won by Ashika Ratnaweera who gave a good start for STC. The B scull was also won by STC with Abishek Nanayakkara, adding two more points to the tally, leading away 8 nil.
Royal College got into the act as they won both Pair events. Royal College B pair consisted of Gavik Kuruppu and Deelaka Mahale while the A pair consisted of skipper Sajjad Ajmal and Mayuka Gamage. The points tally was in favour of Royal College who lead 12-08.
Royal College further extended their lead in the A Double Scull as Jehan Happugala and Maliq Hassen took Royal’s points to 20. However the Thomians made a fighting comeback in the B double scull as Abishek Nanayakkara and Shanal Ratnaweera finished the race 2 seconds ahead and the points gap reduced to 8.
The following races didn’t carry any points but will give experience to thr young rowers in the future Regattas. The Under 16 4s were won by Royal College and the junior C4s event went down the wire to a 1 second difference in timing in favour of Royal College. The traditional Old Boys race was won by the Thomian oarsmen of yesteryears.
The B4 event turned the tables in favour of the School by the Sea who managed to outrow their opponents by a mere 2 seconds. This gave a further 8 points to the tally and with a 20 all tie, it was now or never in the boat race. The A4 event or better known as the boat race was going to be the tie breaker with the trophy up for grabs to the winner of this race.
Royal College A4 consisted of Mayukha Gamage, Sajaad Ajmal, Maliq Hassen, Jehan Hapugalle and Chaniru Hewamanna(Cox) while the Thomian A4 consisted of Ashika Ratnaweera, Dharaka Peiris, Niran Warawita, Abishek Nanayakkara and Ashan Walpola (Cox). The 50th Royal Thomian Regatta was getting very tense as the scores were leveled and lots of anticipation from the supporters. In the end Royal College won the boat race with a comfortable lead from the halfway mark and the Thomians couldn’t catch up.
Royal College went onto win the boat race and also the regatta for the 5th consecutive year. The overall tally in wins is now 23-22 with Royal College down by one win and 5 draws.
