On the 26^th of October, the two rivals of blue took to the green waters of the Beire lake to face-off for the prestigious T. N. Fernando Trophy at the 50^th annual Royal-Thomian Regatta. Royal College came looking for a glorious 5^th win at the 50^th Encounter while S. Thomas’ starved for revenge following 4 years of defeat. Both teams fought tooth and nail as the day proved to be an eventful roller-coaster ride as neither side was clearly victorious till the last race crossed the finish line.

The day stated off with the A-scull race where Gamindu Tennakoon for Royal and Ashika Rathnaweera for S. Thoams’, two oarsmen who last faced off against each other at last years encounter faced off again only to end with a repeat result as Gamindu was unable to out row his rival, giving S. Thomas’s an early six point advantage which was increased as they won the 2^nd Race for the day the B-Scull .

(RC 00-08 STC)

Then came the Pairs, Royal College’s Gavik Kuruppu and Deelaka Mahale easily out rowed their thomian number to retain the B-Pair event for four points and our Captain Sajjad Ajmal and Mayukha Gamage displayed a master class of pair rowing dominating the Thomain captain Dharka Peiris and Ashika Rathnaweera to win the A-pair event for 8 points putting Royal College in the lead.

(RC 12-08 STC)

Next was the Double Scull races, our Vice-Captain Jehan Hapugalle and Maliq Hassan went on to beat their Thomian opponents with clear superiority to bring back the A-Double Scull event and win 8 points for Royal College. The B-Double Scull however was won by S. Thomas’ Abishek Nanayakkara and Shenal Rathnaweera who won by milliseconds, stealing the win from Dinal Aluthgama and Gamindu Tennakoon at the last stretch of the race, awarding them 4 points.

(RC 20-12 STC)

Following this was the Exhibition Four Races, the U-16 four and the C-Four. The U-16 Fours was won by S. Thomas College beating our four consisting of Niven Dorabawila, Sarith Abeysirigunawardena, Nikhil Gunasekara and Thaviru Hettiarachchi, coxed by Vimodha Abeywardhena.
Then came the C-Four, another nail biting race that came down the wire where the Royal College four rowed by Maneth Pothupitiya, Raid Omar, Minula Algoda and Dinal Aluthgama, Coxed by Thaviru Hettiarachchi beat their Thomain opponents with a record timing of 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

Finally it came to the B and A four races to decide the regatta, S. Thomas college’s four comprising of Avinash Rajaguru, Aritha Radalgoda, Bhanuka Rathnayaka and Shanara Senaratne coxed by Chevon Perera clenched the Junior Four event narrowly fending off Royal College’s four rowed by Viruna Cooray, Yumin Perera, Umar Mohideen, Gavik Kuruppu coxed by Vimodha Abeywardhena. This gave S. Thomas 8 points, to keep them level in the fight bringing the Regatta down to the last race of the day, The Senior Fours.

(RC 20-20 STC)

At last was the prestigious Boat Race. Jehan Hapugalle, Maliq Hassan, Sajjad Ajmal, Mayukha Gamage, and Chaniru Hewamana (Cox), represented Royal College for this milestone race. Both crews rowed up with the stakes as high as they could ever have been. With the Boat Race, T.N. Fernando and Revenge for S. Thomas’, or a Historic 5^th win for Royal College to be decided by the Finish line. An intense race took place where Royal fought tooth and nail to maintain their lead achieving the best timing of the day; 3:00, and won the Boat Race for a fifth year in a row to title themselves, for the 5^th consecutive year, Winners of the Royal-Thomain Regatta.

(RC 32-20 STC)

Jehan Hapugalle, Maliq Hassan, Sajjad Ajmal and Mayukha Gamage were awarded the Dicky De Soyza Memorial trophy for the most outstanding Oarsmen for their contribution o f20 points individually, another historic occasion as it was the first time that 4 oarsmen had shared the award.