Royal pride bitten by Thoras
S. Thomas’ College avenged their previous year’s embarrassment to Royal College by trumping their traditional rivals at the 39th annual Royal-Thomian Regatta, with an overall tally of 38 to 14, plus a nail-biting victory in the prestigious Boat Race, at the Colombo Rowing Club, yesterday.
The best was truly saved for last as the Royalists, trailing 26-14 going into the 43rd Boat Race, were unwilling to wilt against a Thomian crew which had been convincing throughout most of the day’s races. As a result, S. Thomas’ were unable to pull away from the tenacious Royalists despite holding a slender lead going into the final stretch of the race. As the Royalists began to gain ground, the Thomians dug deep, and willed themselves over the line in a time of 3:04, a mere two seconds ahead of their opponents.
Representing St. Thomas’ in the Boat Race were Anuradha Nadaraja, Ming-Hua Chang, Ramith Nanayakkara, Sajin De Livera and Kemil Peter.
If the Royalists had managed to eke out a win in the boat race, the regatta would have finished in a tie. But, as their string of losses earlier in the day proved, this was not to be their regatta.
Sandesh Bartlett got the Thomians off to the perfect start when he won the A Scull event, and he once again proved pivotal for his school when he paired with Captain Sajin De Livera to take the B Double Scull race.
By the time Nanayakkara and Chang had rowed to victory in the A Double Scull, the Thomians had an 18-6 lead on the overall points table. The Royalists though fought back with a win of their own in the A Pair by Arith Cooray and Ishan Perera, complementing earlier wins by Bilal Hassen in the B Scull race and Royal skipper Sahan Warnasuriya and Sanjiva Jayasuriya in the B Pair.
It wasn’t long however, before S. Thomas’ once again had their oars way out in front after Akshath Wikramanayake, Bartlett, Chevyth Abeyewardena, Mushahid Munshif and Amrith Peiris claimed the B Four race, pushing things towards a dramatic climax.
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