Lankan athletes at Nairobi marathon

Clive Haswell - CEO Standard Chartered Bank shakes hands with Coach Jayantha Gamini Siyamudali

The Nairobi Marathon, the first leg of the Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) 2006/07 took place on October 29, and was run at a challenging altitude of 1,600m. The first runner for the Sri Lankan national team Ishan Kumara Wijethilaka came in with a timing of 02:26:18 which places Sri Lanka a close 2nd to India and leading over Pakistan in the South Asian Region challenge of the GROE..

The Sri Lankan national team comprised Ishan Kumara Wijethileke (Nairobi marathon), Sujeewa Chandrapala (Singapore Marathon) Asela Bandara (Mumbai Marathon) and Ajith Bandara (Hong Kong Marathon). The team Manager is Jayantha Gamini Siyamudali. While Standard Chartered Bank Sri Lanka sponsored a team to the 2006 GROE, this is the first time a national team comprising the country’s four top marathon runners, endorsed by the Sri Lanka Athletics Association is participating for the Nation challenge.

The Sri Lanka team will not only be competing for a share of the US$1.5 million total prize pool, the largest prize pool in world athletics, they will also be vying to bring home the GROE Gold Baton – a 9 carat, 300 gram, solid gold relay baton that has been specially commissioned for the Race.