Kethaka the optimist
After three impressive finishes in his four races, Kethaka Weerasuriya sailed ahead of fellow Thomian Rehan De Silva and Royal College’s Nisal Walpola, to end up as first overall at the inaugural Royal Thomian Optimist Sailing Regatta, held yesterday along the Bolgoda Lake.
Weerasuriya crossed the line second, third, sixth and second respectively in his four races. The Optimist group, in which all the 26 Under 15 participants raced, allows each competitor to discard the results of a race of their choosing and Weerasuriya selected his third, giving him an overall tally of 7.
This took him comfortably past De Silva and Walpola, both of whom were deadlocked on 10. However, De Silva had first place finishes in his first and fourth races, something Walpola failed to achieve despite finishing his four races third, fifth, fourth and third respectively.
S. Thomas’ sealed a comprehensive victory by also winning the event’s Team Race, to walk away with the bulk of the prizes distributed by Royal College Principal Upali Gunasekara and S. Thomas College Warden Indra De Soyza. Besides the schools’ two top officials, the regatta also drew a large number of students, Old Boys, parents and yachting aficionados.
- DS
An event in progress