‘Lucian Rosa’ Cross Country Invitation Race in USA to felicitate Rosa
S.L.B. Rosa (standing extreme left) with the University of Wisconsin team as coach and on the right picture Rosa in his heydays in Sri Lanka
To felicitate to Sri Lanka’s legendary long distance runner S.L.B. Rosa, for his contributions as an Athlete, Coach and Administrator, a Cross Country Invitation Race for men and women, named Lucian Rosa, and organised by the UW Parkside Athletics-XC, Kenosha, USA, will be worked off tomorrow (9).
S.L.B. Rosa is, arguably, the greatest long distance runner Sri Lanka has produced, and was hailed as one of the finest Track stars in Asia. He was once the Chief Cross Country Coach of the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, USA.
Rosa started his Athletics career in a Roman Catholic School in Ampitiya, Kandy, and later joined the Sri Lanka Army and continued to pursue Athletics. Rosa led the Sri Lanka team to the 1972 Olympics, but could not compete in the 1976 edition due to Sri Lanka boycotting the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
He was best known for running barefooted and winning the 5,000 metres at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. His performance in the 10,000 metres is also an Asian record.
At the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1966 this legendary runner won Bronze in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. His personal best in the 10,000 metres is 29:18.0 min. which is still a national record.
Rosa held the marathon record for 40 years (2:14.31 hrs.) established in 1975, until it was lowered by Anuradha Indrajith Cooray with a time of 2:13.47 hrs in the London Marathon in 2015.
Once when Rosa was on vacation in Sri Lanka he said, “Undoubtedly, there are Duncan Whites, Ethirveerasinghams and Wimaladasas or, for the matter, even Rosas, in our land still. Let the powers that be unearth their latent talents and extend a helping hand to rise to international fame. Don’t forget that these Athletes, abounding with talent, are mostly in the outstations and the interior regions of Sri Lanka.”