Come Colombo Marathon
With the intention of hitting 5000 runners by next year, the 13th edition of Colombo Marathon, organised by Lanka Sportreizen (LSR) jointly with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau and SriLankan Airlines, will be held on October 6. The biggest marathon to be held on Sri Lankan soil will set off at 6.00am on October 6 from the proximity of Independence Square at Torrington and proceed to Negombo Beach Park, 41:195 kilometres away, covering the distance of an internationally accepted marathon. The marathon which was changed from its customary course last year, owing road construction developments of the Pamunugama-Negombo route has been put back to its original route, according to Thilak Weerasinghe, the Chairman of LSR.
“The marathon will run through Borella, Dematagoda, Peliyagoda and Wattala before turning off to Pamunugama alongside the Hamilton Canal, before passing through Talahena, Pitipala, Doowa and the destination, the Negombo Beach Park. This is the route that the Colombo Marathon has been run for the past few years but last year we were compelled to use the Colombo-Negombo route. This year the marathon will be run again on its usual course,” Weerasinghe explained.
The 13th Colombo Marathon will once again take its original route on the Pamunugama-Negombo road. - File pic
Since the inauguration of the Colombo Marathon in 1998 with a participation of slightly over 350 runners, including 28 foreigners, the race has grown to attract thousands of participants over the next 12 years. Last year the Colombo Marathon drew 3317 participants and Weerasinghe revealed that they aim to accommodate 5000 runners with an anticipated number of closer to 300 overseas marathoners.
But the real stature of the marathon according to Weerasinghe will be when they reach the position of holding the marathon within the city limits of Colombo, aptly to its name. By today the Colombo Marathon has managed to reserve a slot in the event calendar of the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).
“This is a great achievement for a country like Sri Lanka, where we can offer many facilities, considering the fact of promoting sports tourism. At the time of the marathon, the course assessors of AIMS will be in Sri Lanka and one of their main objectives will be to identify a suitable course, to hold the marathon within Colombo in the near future, as other international marathons held in other leading cities of the world. So far we have had inquiries from over 2000 international runners and already there are closer to 60 who have confirmed their participation,” Weerasinghe added.
The main race of the 13th edition of Colombo Marathon will feature the full marathon which covers the standard distance of 42:195 kilometres and a half marathon that covers a distance of 21:097 kilometres. These events will also be divided into two categories as standard and veteran. In addition the organisers have included two fun runs along the main route for a distance of 5 kilometres and 10 kilometres and a special category for international schools will be an inauguration from this year.
“It was pleasing to see a gathering of more than 3500 runners of all ages clad in multi coloured dresses including 75 foreigners from 25 countries covering all continents faced the starter last year. This year our aim is to attract 5,000 as said before. But our prime objective is to accommodate 10000 participants in years to come. The assessors of AIMS will be observing on all the possibilities to discover a fitting route with ample space to hold that number of runners. Even if we spot a route, we will have to seek assistance from the Police Department and the government to make this aim a reality. If the government patronage its assistance to close some sections of the roads in Colombo for couple of days for other events, I don’t think closing the roads for a few hours will be a problem. If this materializes the event should attract a lot of foreign participants and their supporters and will bring in added foreign exchange to the country,” explained Weerasinghe.
In 2012 Kenyan Geoffrey Birgen won the main marathon with a timing of 2 hours 26:40 minutes to win a handsome cash award of US $ 2500 in addition to an air ticket presented by one of the sponsors, SriLankan Airlines. This year too this offer will be open for the winner with cash awards offered up to 10th place in the men’s and women’s categories. The second and third places will receive US $ 1500 and US $ 1000 respectively.
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