New RTC president Nihara Jayatilleke creates history in Asia
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Nihara Jayatilleke
Horseracing enthusiast, animal lover and prolific public figure Nihara Jayatilleke Rutnam created history by becoming the first female President of Royal Turf Club (RTC), which is also a first for the region of Asia.
Nihara has been an active member of RTC since its inception in 2016 and was an executive committee member during the past four years. She will take charge of the leadership role of RTC as the fourth president after Suranjith Premadasa, Panduka Keerthinanda and Ranjan Kanagasabai.
A past pupil of Musaeus College, Nihara showed interest in horses from the tender age of four, and was actively involved in horse riding since 1998. She was also the only Sri Lanka woman rider for many years and competed in the first-ever Beach Race held in Mt. Lavinia in 2003 in addition to appearing in dressage events.
Her involvement in horseracing has been unyielding for many years, and Nihara was active as the Secretary of Sri Lanka Equestrian Association for many years.
Currently, the Managing Director of Asian Aviation Centre at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Nehara has also actively involved in many charitable missions, besides her role as an Executive Producer in two movies.
In one such instance Nihara got together with one of her close friends from Great Britain to embark on a charity horse ride from Vavuniya to Jaffna during four days in 2002, during the war, to raise funds for children of Wanni, Kayts and Delft regions. The mission ‘Peace for Children’ was highly accepted and followed by many in and outside Sri Lanka.
According to historians of horseracing, Nihara will go down in history with a similar feat of producing the world’s first-ever female Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, for taking up the leading role of a horseracing club from the entire continent of Asia.
Her first task would be to make the upcoming ‘Mock Race’ today, a viable and successful event prior to the RTC’s main events lined up during March and April.