Thomian Ride pedals fortunes to save lives
The healthy habit of cycling is taking a new course as a group of men have taken to ride across the country raising funds for worthy causes like renovating the oldest teaching hospital in South Asia.
Mr. Nishan Wickramaratna and other riders
“When we reached 50 years we thought we should do something interesting and healthy and give back to the community and school as result of which the idea to cycle ride around Sri Lanka came up and it was called the Thomian Ride,” Mr. Nishan Wickramaratna, an old Thomian from the Class of 1982 said.
Mr. Wickramarathna is the General Manager & SBU Head of Finlays Colombo and a tea trader by profession.
This batch with a grouping of about 30 cyclists have been involved in a number of expeditions in a bid to raise funds for the college for which they had travelled across 1400 km.
Thereafter they had taken an interest in resurrecting the Green Memorial Hospital in Manipay, Jaffna which was considered to be the first medical and teaching hospital in Sri Lanka established in 1848 by Dr. Samuel Fisk Green, an American medical missionary.
Through the efforts of the Thomian Ride cyclists the hospital was able to establish a paediatric ward and an alcoholic rehabilitation centre but it does not stop there, more funds are to be raised in future by touring the country again to expand the facility’s requirements.
Another worthy cause the Thomian Ride group will be involved in is the setting up of a water purification plant in Pooneryn in memory of their late friend Vishwanath Samarasinghe who had passed away having met with a cycling accident.
In view of this plant the group is working with the charity organization ‘Ape Lanka’ and through them they hope to provide this plan since they were able to find out that this could help provide safe drinking water to benefit 250 children.
Although a group of old Thomians they have been able to obtain the support of past students from a number of other schools as well. “We ride during the weekends and sometimes during a midweek holiday,” Mr. Wickramaratna said.
He noted that cycling has its own health reasons for which they were able to create less impact on joints and was able to cover longer distances as well.
Funds for the various projects have been raised by contacting their friends via Facebook and other school mates as well, he explained.
He also spoke of how they were able to attract a number of overseas friends and others from similar cycling groups like the 15 Australians from City Tatts, which is considered one of the oldest riding groups there.
Making a presentation to a hospital
Some of the group members are also a part of the Suicide Prevention Ride on 1333 that create awareness about this issue as well, he said.
Mr. Wickramaratna said that following their cycling expeditions most have now become cycling addicts and as a fitness fan he had also taken part in the Iron Man competition held last year and their team had been placed 5th in the mixed relay event.
The ride to Jaffna from Colombo has already been carried out twice and will be again done this year as well, he said.
He also explained that their ride around the country takes them along the coastal belt from Colombo to Mt. Lavinia – Puttalam – Mannar – Jaffna – Mullaitivu – Trincomalee – Arugam Bay – Kataragama – Matara and then back to Mt. Lavinia. This trip would take about 10 nights and 11 days.
During the Thomian Ride’s first expedition around the country they were able to raise about Rs.16 million that was used to install digital boards for the classrooms, he said.
Riding around the country has brought together fun moments and more camaraderie with schoolmates add to the travails along with the odd elephants they meet especially towards Matara and Panama.
The fun and camaraderie with schoolmates and the odd elephant they meet on the road are the highlights especially towards Matara, and Panama
Mr. Wickramaratna is also now a part of the Colombo City Runners as a means to maintaining physical fitness ever since he took to cycling.
The cycling expedition is no easy journey but the group keeps it going through the hot and humid weather conditions starting out at five in the morning along with back-up support as well.
The group has received support for their causes from Australians, Italians and the British as they ready to journey to raise about Rs. 350, 000 for the water purification plant and in total they need Rs.10 million in funds for the hospital project.
Raising funds is carried out by selecting a worthy project and then talking to corporates by promoting the rides that could be used as a mode of advertising, he said.