This year’s ARAE-FEARA Rowing Championships were held from the 5th to the 12th of January 2020 in Calcutta, India for its 78th edition.
The regatta was hosted by the Amateur Rowing Association of the East (ARAE) and the Far East Amateur Rowing Association (FEARA). The Colombo Rowing Club crew participated side-by-side with crews from countries such as India, Dubai, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Pakistan.
This year, although the Colombo Rowing Club (CRC) fielded a very small crew, the talented bunch managed to impress everybody with their achievements.
A 9-member crew led by the first female captain of CRC, Ishika De Silva, participated at the regatta and performed exceptionally well in the categories for both genders. The men won the Hoogly Cup for the men’s overall title while the ladies bagged two Gold medals.
Arjun Wickramanayake won Gold in the Men’s Open Sculls and partnered up with Hashen Hettigoda to clinch Gold in the Double Sculls as well. The coxed four comprising Ruven Weerasinghe, Shehan Muthugala, Sajin De Livera and Sandesh Bartlett won gold in the race for the Willingdon Trophy. Ruven Weerasinghe emerged second in the ergometer championship with a timing of 3.09.9 minutes. The men thus won the overall Hoogly trophy with a total of 28 points.
In the women’s races, the two Golds came when Swarnamali Wijesinghe and Samaakhya Gajanayake who won the Women’s Open Double Sculls whilst Skipper Ishika De Silva along with Swarnamali Wijesinghe dominated the Women’s Pair.
