The Twentieth of February witnessed a great showdown of sportsmanship and talent take place at the Royal College Main Ground. The Annual Interhouse Athletic Meet has been held annually since 1892. However, the 1st time the shield was awarded was in 1919, making this year the 101st time there emerged a victor of the ‘Royal College Championship Shield’. Known to be the oldest Shield awarded within Royal College. The Championship Shield awarded to the winners of the Annual Interhouse Athletic Meet was received this year by Marsh house. After having their 4-year streak broken by Reed House last year they amassed a total of 1032 points to regain lost glory and to display their prowess in this landmark event in the school calendar.

However, what makes the 2020 edition special was the stiff competition the houses faced and the intensely close competition that made the event a great spectacle to behold. This was very apparent in the manner in which all the major awards were shared among the five houses. Lead by Tarin Boteju the champions Marsh house took home the awards for the highest points in the Junior and Senior categories with Totals of 361 and 621 points respectively.

One of the highlights of the Athletics Meet is the March Past for which much preparation is done by the grade 10 students. With a large share of available points at stake – the March Past was best executed by the Runners-Up Boake House. A testament to the efforts of many stakeholders at Royal College the iconic Road Race was won by the 2nd Runners-Up Harward house.

Special mention goes out to the Captain of Royal College Athletics for the year 2020 Anupa Liyanagunawardane from Reed house who showed his class being adjudged the most outstanding athlete for his effort in the 100M dash.

For their efforts on a sleepless Wednesday night spent decorating their house, the award for the best-decorated house went to the final placed house Hartley who also emerged victors of the Relay Championship.

Bringing more color to the event was the middle school students with the drill display and the fiery performances of the College Gymnastic and Wushu teams. After the event was the unmistakable sounds of laughter and enjoyment as the students revelled in the after-party courtesy of the DJ Duo “the Lunatics”. Such a celebration was expected because it was never about winning or losing but rather coming together at the end of the day to celebrate the true spirit of comradery and sportsmanship.

This was all keeping true to the golden advice of the Chief Guest Dr.Suren De Almeida, “First comes privilege, second comes talent and finally comes the magic word – “Hard Work”. The privilege to be a Royalist, the ethos from which victories were born and records were broken was made possible by the hard work of every single person, not just the winners or the participants but also the Teachers, Prefects, Parents and various other stakeholders at Royal College which resulted in its success.