Royal College and Ladies College were triumphant at the 27th Ranfer Sprints held this evening at the Colombo Rowing Club.
The day’s races kick started with the Men’s and Women’s heats. In the first Men’s heat, the Colombo Rowing Club (CRC), Ananda College and Royal College ‘B’ took on each other in which the first and second crew would make way into the finals of the Men’s category. The Royal junior crew came first in terms of points with 40 points and the Rowing Club crew following in second place with 19 points.
The second heat in the Men’s category saw traditional rivals Royal College take on S.Thomas’ College. In the series of races, Royal College ‘A’ crew took the upper hand of the Thomians sweeping all the races and ended up with a total of 59 points. Royal College ‘A’ crew made their way into the finals with the Royalists sealing two of the three finals spots and would compete with the Colombo Rowing Club.
In the Women’s category, Musaeus College won the first heat comprehensively with 59 points, beating the ‘B’ crews of Ladies College and Bishops College. Musaeus College and Ladies College ‘B’ made their way into the Women’s finals. In the second heat, Ladies College ‘A’ beat Bishops College 59 points to 0 and reserved the final spot in the finals.
Men’s Finals:
The two crews from Royal College took on the Colombo Rowing Club crew in a battle in which Royal College looked for their second consecutive Ranfer Sprints title and the CRC crew looked to regain the trophy. The ‘A’ crew from Royal College swept off the finals with 48 points. Sajeev de Silva, the experienced sculler from the Club won both his races (up and down) quite comfortably gaining the only 11 points for the CRC crew. Hashen Weerakkody and Kaveen Rajapaksha (RC- A) bagged the pair races in tight battles against Mohamed Mubarak and Amrith Peiris (CRC). In the fours races, Royal College ‘A’ won against a tough competition put up by the CRC Crew. However, the CRC Crew were unable to maintain their competitiveness which resulted in Royal College ‘A’ wrapping up the fours races. Royal College ‘A’ emerged winners of the Men’s category of the 27th Ranfer Sprints.
Women’s Finals:
The Women’s finals saw yet again, rivals Ladies College and Musaeus College row all out for the title. The finals hosted the two Ladies’ crews and the crew from Musaeus. Ladies College ‘A’ took home the Women’s trophy winning with 48 points, the same number of points as the Men’s winner. Senior oarswoman, Ishara Abbey of Ladies College dominated the sculls races. The pairs saw a dramatic finish with the Ladies’ ‘A’, Davina Koch and Dihanie Amersinghe winning the first race down while Ladies College ‘B’, Jeshani Srikumar and Shannon Perera won the second one up as the Ladies’ ‘A’ pair, and the Musaeus pair comprising of the de Alwis sisters, Binali and Maedhini happened to be on a collision course with one another. The final four races of the day finished with the Ladies College ‘A’ four winning both races, followed by Musaeus College and Ladies College ‘B’ finishing in second and third in both respectively.
The evening put up a display of ups and downs for the crews and entertaining races for the spectators.
Results of the day’s races
Men’s Category
- Sculls (1X) – Hashen Weerakkody
- Pair (2-) – Kaveen Rajapaksha (B)
Praveen Weerakkody (S) - Fours (4+) – Praveen Hapugalle (B)
Kavinda Matthew (2)
Hashen Hettigoda (3)
Prathap Perera (S)
Avishka Jayaweera (Cox)
Women’s Category
- Sculls (1X) – Ishara Abbey
- Pair (2-) – Davina Koch (B)
Dihanie Amerasinghe (S) - Fours (4+) – Ashvini Subasinghe (B)
Kavisha Dassanayake (2)
Chanika Gunathilake (3)
Nihara Warawita (S)
Ashmitha Guneratne (Cox)
