Royal outsmart S. Thomas’ at annual regatta
Royal College spread their dominance from the start to outsmart traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College by a staggering margin of 48-4 to win the 46th Royal-Thomian Regatta and regain the T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy after three years at the Beira Lake in Colombo yesterday.
Royal regained their winning ways and made the waters of Beira Lake in front of the historical Colombo Rowing Club expertly dominating the events and went home victorious leaving the Thomian oarsmen with a solitary victory through their freshers Suramaba Serasingha and Senal Seneviratna, who rowed for the Junior B Pair, just three seconds ahead of the Royal pair.
The clouds released a heavy shower upon the Beira Lake giving it a gloomy aura and muddy surroundings but that did not stop the excited crowds from pouring in for this red letter day.
Royal oarsmen dominated the Beira Lake with a high-skilled display
The events pushed off with the A Skull and Hashen Hettigoda of Royal took it home and brought the Reid Avenue boys their first victory of the afternoon which set the tone for the rest of the day. The B Skull event was another opportunity for Royal oarsmen to stamp their dominance with Hashen Weerakody and from then on out Royal continued to win race after race.
The B Double Skull secured the all-round win and painted the scoreboard a beautiful lead of 28-4, helping the Royal side to win the war but the bigger battles were yet to come in the form of the ever important A4 Race. A fabulous stroke rate by Prathap Perera, Sajid Ajmal, Kaveen Rajapakshe and Amrith Fernando resulted Royal in clinching the coveted A4 Boat Race that took place as the sun had set, making the conditions tougher for the oarsman. But like true sportsmen they weathered the storm and Royal came on top with a stunning timing of 2 minutes and 56 seconds, missing the record by a scratch, but still doing their school proud.