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by LESLIE FERNANDO

Thomian and Royalist oarsmen with teamwork of high order and perfect co-ordination of their rowers, shared the T. Noel Fernando Trophy at the 31st annual Royal-Thomian Regatta 2003, held at the Beira Lake yesterday. Royal and S. thomas' collected 20 points each.

The regatta was hosted by the Thomians and sponsored by Dialog GSM. There was much excitement and thrills on this 1000-yard water stretch from the first race to the last race. The last occasion the regatta was held for a 'tie' was in 1993. Yesterday the Thomians won 3 trophies and Royal too won three trophies.

In the series S. Thomas' College have won the 'plum' 16 times and Royal 13 times and two ended in 'ties'.

Royal and S. Thomas' were on par having won 17 Boat Races each at the 30th clash in 2002. But the Thomians succeeded to go one up in the series yesterday winning the Senior Fours 18-17.

S. Thomas' won the junior sculls (Ajith Goonewardena challenge Trophy), senior sculls (Senior Sculls Trophy) and the Senior Fours (Boat Race Trophy) while Royal won the Junior pairs (Chula Samarasinghe Trophy), Senior Paris (Freddie Raux Trophy) and Junior Fours (Eraj Wijesinghe Trophy). Royal also won the Junior 'B' Fours event but no points awarded (Maj. Gen. Percy Fernando Memorial Trophy).

Both Royal and Thomas' had 8 points each after the first three races but Royal took a clear lead winning both junior and senior pairs to be 20-8 and look set to win the plum. But the Thomian Senior Four crew showed superior skills and strength to win the main race - the Boat Race by a whisker (by one sec).

Dejan de Zoysa (1), Mahangu Weerasinghe (2), Dineshka Aluwihare (3), Isuru Perera (s), Dathika Wickremanayake (cox) comprised the Thomian crew and they rowed with determination to beat their senior fours rivals composed of A. Sulaiman (b), M. Fatharally (2), P. Priyan (3), T. Jayatillaka (s), L. Wickremanayake (cox) of Royal with a time of 3.25 secs to make it 20-all. Junior Sculls: Deijan de Zoysa of S. Thomas' College Beat Suranjay Dharmaratne of Royal College by 95 secs (Time 3.56 secs)

Junior Pairs: Raguwaron Jayachandara (B) Shehan Wanigasekera (s) Lishan Wickremanayake (C) of Royal College beat Dejan de Zoysa (B) Isuru Perera (S) Yanic Salgadou (C) of S. Thomas' College by 3 secs (Time - 4.32 secs)

Senior Sculls: Isuru Perera of S. Thomas' College beat Sameera Abeygunawardena of Royal by 4 secs (Time 3.55 secs)

Senior Pairs: Keshal Jayasinghe (B), Vishan Karunanayaka (S), Meheran Kareem (C) of Royal College beat Dinesha Aluvihare (B) Mahangu Weerasinghe (S) Dathika Wickremanayake (C) of S. Thomas' College by 6 secs (Time 4.30 secs).

Junior fours: S. Wanigasekera (B) R. Jayachandra (2) V. Wickremasinghe (3) S. Dharmarathne (S) M. Kareem (C) of Royal beat D. Siriwardena (B) S. de Silva (2) N. Navaratnam (3) S. Phillip (s) L. Weerasinghe (C) of S. Thomas' by 3 secs. (Time 3.35 secs)

Junior 'B' fours: Krishan Suriyarachchi (B) Shamindra Perera (2) Anisha Yasaratne (3) Rasika Jayasinghe (S) Malik Azeez (C) of Royal beat Dushyantha Subaramanium (B) Malisha Ekanayake (2) Thivanka Rambukpotha (3) Janitha Amaratunga (S) Yanik Salgado (C) of S. Thomas College by 4 secs. (Time 4.00 secs) - (No points awarded to this race)

Senior Fours: (Boat Race Trophy) Dejande Soysa (B) Mahangu Veerasinghe (2) Dineshka Aluvihare Isuru Perera (S) Dathika Wickremanayake (C) of S. Thomas' beat Akeel Sulaimah (B) Mohamad Fatharally (2) Padma Priyan (3) Thilan Jayatilaka (S) Lishan Wickremanayake (C) of Royal by 1 sec (time 3.26 secs).

Old Boys Fours: S. Thomas' College beat Royal College by 26 secs (Time: 4.03 secs).

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