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by Leslie Fernando

The 33rd Royal-Thomian Resatta and 37th annual Boat Race, the eagerly looked forward to events by the rowing fans will be held on October 29 (Saturday) on the Beira Lake starting at 2.30 p.m. The T. N. Fernando Trophy will be on offer for the overall winner.

Royal and Thomian oarsmen have been hard at training in the past few weeks for this prestigious regatta.

For Royal and Thomian crews, it will be a good test to prove their skills to the selectors of the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka who will be watching the progress of the schools rowers performances before picking some of the best for the national rowing pool already in training for the SA Games to be held in Colombo 2006 April.

Both coaches Hiran Dorenagama (Royal) and Ajith Goonawardena (S.Thomas') have been busy with their crews and have put in a lot of work to get the teams up to scratch. There are few newcomers in both sides but a lot will depend on the more experienced rowers from either side.

Last year, Thomian oarsmen with teamwork of high quality and perfect co-ordination won the T. Noel Fernando Trophy at the 32nd annual regatta held on October 30. Thomians won the overall title for the 17th time with 24 points to Royal's 16. The Thomians are determined to win again, but are bound to get stiff competition from the Royalists.

Thomian crew rowed gracefully to win the Junior Scull (Ajith Goonawardena Trophy), Junior Pairs (Chula Samarasinghe Trophy), Senior Scull (Senior Scull Trophy) and the Senior Fours (boat Race Trophy) while the Royalists won the Senior Fours (Freddie Raux Trophy), Junior Fours (Eraj Wijesinghe Trophy) and Junior Fours-no points (Major General Percy Fernando Memorial Trophy). On completion of 5 events the scores stood Royal 16 and Thomians 12.

The 'decider' for the overall title was the most important event - the Boat Race (12 points). The Thomian crew comprising Dejan de Zoysa (Bow), Shannon de Silva (2), Dineshka Aluvihare (3), Isuru Perera (stroke), Dathika Wickremanayake (cox) rowed with great endurance, strength and balance to win the final event 'clocking' 3.21 secs. Thomians beat the Roysl crew of Shehan Wanigasekera (B), Gishan Karunanayske (2), Aqil Sulaiman (3), Mohamad Fatharally (s) and Dinouk Perera (cox) who timed 3.34 secs.

For the Thomians' Boat Race tally increased to 19 and for Royal 17. The interest in this year's regatta, where S. Thomas' leads with 17 wins to Royal 13, will revolve around Royal doing everything it could to reduce the defecit and prevent S. Thomas' drawing further away to widen its lead it must be mentioned that two regattas 1986 and 1993 ended in a tie, thus accounting for 30 regattas hither to held and now moving on to its 33rd regatta.

Thomian crew: Dineshka Aluwihare (captain), Shannon de Silva, Dathika Karunanayake, Dayantha Seneviratne, Niroshan Manoharan, Manil Salgado, Milinda Kukugammana, Sharika de Silva, Devaan hallock, Rajitha Wickremasekera, Janith Amarasekera, Damitha Peiris, Dhanushka Dayanetti, Yanik Salgado, Sidath Munasinghe, Shakliya Kalupahana, Lakshan Fernando, L. Perera, S. Silva, C. Fernando, C. Perera.

Royal crew: Keshal Jayasinghe (captian), G. Karunanayake, Dinouk Perera, L. Wickramanayake, A. Ariff, D. Perera, C. Karunanayake, T. Jayathilaka, D. Fernando, J. Tennakoon, O. Weerasinghe, P. de Silva, A. Jayatilaka, M. Boyangoda, M. Mandawala, J. de Silva, R. Suraaratchie, M. Weerasinghe, D. Ekanayake, K. Wickramanayake, M. Dissanayake, R. Akram, V. Chelliah, U. Ismail, M. Dias, M. Aziz.

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