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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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Interest building for 14th Tour de Lanka by Leslie Fernando The cream of Sri Lanka cyclists will vie for championship honours at the prestigious cycling classic - the Tour de Lanka the over 1,000 kilometer cycle race to be held in five stages from December 7 to 12. This event which is revived after 8 years, is a event looked forward to by cyclists and cycling fans in the country. It is organised by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) and conducted by the Interim Committee of the Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Police Traffic Division. This will be the 14th occasion that this race will be held. The last Tour de Lanka was held in 1996 from November 29 to December 1. The 601 kilometer cycle race then was held in three stages and there were 96 in the racing, 314 in the standard event. Jude Priyantha Fernando of A. J. Milton Sports Club, Katunayake won the 19th Tour de Lanka. Jude Priyantha had an overall timing of 16 hours 50 minutes 28.12 secs. Jude finished 13th at Nuwara Eliya (first stage), and second at Anuradhapura (second stage). He finished first in the final stage at Colombo - opposite Lake House with a time of 5 hours 11 minutes 40.01 secs. An official of the Interim Committee of the Cycling Federation said that this will be the largest and richest race ever. This year the race will be held on five stages four nights and five days. The official further added that there may be also foreign riders taking part. Now everything is in place to stage this race which has been compared to the Tour de France cycle race. This year, the race will be worked off in grand style. The official was very happy to note that Lake House and sport of cycling relationship is long standing affair. Lake House, in a bid to promote and popularise cycling in Sri Lanka has done a great service and the ANCL is continuing to uplift the sport of cycling, organising the cycling classic said the official. On 7th December, the first stage will start opposite Lake House and riders will proceed to Anuradhapura via Puttalam Road, second stage on December 8 from Anuradhapura to Trincomalee via Habarana, third stage on December 9 from Trincomalee to Kandy via Dambulla and Matale, fourth stage on December 11 from Kandy to Ratnapura via Kegalle and Avissawella and the fifth stage on December 12 from Ratnapura to Matara to finish at Nupe via Horana, Kalutara and Galle. There will also be a Circuit Race Round the Kandy Lake on December 10. There will be another Standard Race for men on December 12 from Ratnapura to Matara while a Standard Race for women too is to be worked off also on December 12 from Galle to Matara. Details and entry coupons will appear shortly in the ANCL publications. |
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