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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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Fresh ideas to brighten up Nestomalt-Dinamina event by A. C. DE SILVA Fourteen years is a long, long time and the 14th Nestomalt-Dinamina Marathon enters a new era with prospect of bigger and brighter event forthcoming with the tremendous enthusiasm shown by the participants and spectators as well. So, when the first of the series of 2 to 3 regional marathons will be worked off on August 2 from Dambulla to Kekirawa a distance of 20 kilometres, there will be that extra bit of effort by the runners as this marathon has come to stay as the most important of them all. At a press briefing held on Friday afternoon at ANCL Board Room, Senior DIG Gamini Randeni - the football boss, said that he has been associated with all the Nestomalt-Dinamina Marathons and he can vouch for the fact that they had all been conducted in a successful manner. He said that the Police play significant role, along with the Athletic Association, sponsors Nestomalt and Media sponsors Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. The Marathon goes through various parts of the country to the villages and it has been a wonderful experience for both competitors and the spectators on the road as well. DIG Gamini Randeni needs no introduction as he is also the President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and he spoke with certain amount of authority when he said that sport needs sponsors as it is going through difficult times. It is good to see establishments like Nestle's coming forward to sponsor events such as the Nestomalt-Dinamina Marathon and the sponsorship will help the participants a great deal. He also thanked the ANCL group of newspapers for the publicity given to sport as good publicity will bring out a better product. Prema Pinnewale - General Secretary of the Amateur Athletic Association of Sri Lanka said that marathon running has become very popular in Sri Lanka and with the support of the Police and the media he hoped that Sri Lanka can get upto the Asian level in marathon running. Pinnewale said that the next Asian Marathon Doha-Qatar is in 2006 and hoped that there would be marathon runners from Sri Lanka too as competitors. He names two of the past champions in A. S. M. Khan and Linus Diaz and hoped that more outstanding runners will emerge. AAA General Secretary Prema Pinnewale, ANCL Chairman Nalin Ladduwahetty and Nestle Marketing Manager M. Hamza were of the opinion that there should be some innovations brought into the working of the Nestomalt-Dinamina Marathons would bring greater interest into the event and there would be greater participation by the athletes and spectators as well. ANCL Chairman Mr. Ladduwahetty said that changes in the format of the working of the event will be an added interest. He said that for the London Marathon there were about 20,000 people participating and an equal number or more come in to participate in a fun marathon and all have a good time. He said that the sponsors too get their money's worth as the vests that the runners wear will have the sponsors' logo and it will be really interesting all round. The ANCL boss said that Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited is appreciative of any sports-body that supports sports. "We assure you that we will give all the publicity". He said that it was good to think of new ideas to improve sports and said that ANCL was proud to be media sponsors of the up-coming Nestomalt - Dinamina Marathon. Mr. M. Hamsza - Marketing Manager of Nestle said that when the Nestomalt - Dinamina Marathon was first started, there was a dearth of sponsors and Nestles did well to get hold of the marathon and give it a facelift. He suggested that there should be some innovations done so that there would be fresh interest among the competitors and spectators as well. "It is not good enough to be satisfied with what we have done in the past. We must think of something new." he said. The Nestle's Marketing chief said that the media plays a vital role in conducting events of this nature and he thanked ANCL for all the support and publicity given to the event. DIG Traffic Daya Jayasundera said that most of the unwanted trouble in Sri Lanka is due to indiscipline. The youth in the country can be calmed down through sports. It is by having massed participation sports like marathon running that youth can be kept out of trouble and he said that he wished to thank companies like Nestles for coming forward in sponsoring events of this nature year in and year out. DIG Daya Jayasundera needs no introduction in the sports field. He was one of Sri Lanka's finest rugby players, and when his playing days were over, he took to coaching the Police and then took up the noble role of rugby referee. He assured the organisers of the Nestomalt-Dinamina Marathon the full support of the Police and said that the organisers should have no problems at all. |
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