Tour leader Dharshana Prasad overall winner
Dharshana Prasad, finished third but was the overall winner
Dharshana Prasad of Sri Lanka Navy emerged as the Tour Leader and was in front on the penultimate day of the SLT Speed Up Cycle Tour. The fourth day of the race ended in Anuradhapura yesterday.
The five day tour which ends today. So far 577 kms have been completed with Tour Leader Dharshana Prasad having clocked 13 hrs. 50 mts, 59 secs to be in front.
Three riders Charith Fernando of the Sri Lanka Army, Jeevan Jayasinghe of the Sri Lanka Air Force and Avishka Medonsha of the Sri Lanka Navy are shoulder to shoulder with the Tour Leader Dharshana Prasad.
Today is the last day of the tour. The event is being held in two stages. The first stage is from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa – 106 km. After that the last stage is from Polonnaruwa to Batticaloa where the finish is scheduled to take place.
Today’s distance of 203 km is a flat race where a close fight is expected amongst the sprinters.
Yesterday was the fourth stage which was from Kandy to Anuradhapura to a distance of 149.8 km. This stage was won by Jeevan Jayasinghe of the Sri Lanka Air Force, who is a South Asian Gold medallist. He finished in 3 hrs. 21 mts.30 secs. Two riders finished in a bunch. The second place was annexed by Gihan Pushpakumara of Sri Lanka Army. His finishing time was similar to Jeevan Jayasinghe’s timing. The third place went to Tour Leader Dharshana Prasad with a time of 3.21.32.
The entire distance of the five day tour is 780.5 km which started on August 27 from Ratmalana. The first stage was up to Matara to a distance of 150.7 km. The winner of this stage was Navin Ruchira of Sri Lanka Air Force returning a time of 3.28.00.
The second stage was from Matara to Ratnapura to a distance of 150 km which was won by Nishantha Perera of Dehiwela-Mt. Lavinia Municipal Council with a time of 3 hrs. 44 mts. 39 secs.
The Third Stage from Ratnapura, to Kandy to a distance of 127 km was won by Viran Ramesh of Sri Lanka Ports Authority with a time of 3 hrs. 16.09.
Parallel to this was a women’s race, held on August 27, from Ratmalana to Ambalangoda (80 km) which was won by Panchali Sulochana of Sri Lanka Air Force. She finished the race in 2 hrs. 31 mts. 30 secs. The second place went to Iresha Ranasinghe (2.35.23) and the third place was taken by to A.M. Dinesha Dilrukshi (2.39.34). All three are from the Sri Lanka Air Force.
The overall winner of the men’s race which finishes today will receive a cash prize of Rs. One Million.
Sri Lanka Telecom has allocated Rs. Four Million to the winners of the tour.
- SP