Royal Thomian Regatta


The Royal Thomian Regatta is the annual rowing race between traditional school rivals Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia. Begun in 1962 as the Royal Thomian Boat Race it later evolved into a regatta in 1966 and now compromises of 8 events. It is among the oldest and most prestigious Royal-Thomian sporting encounters.
The races are rowed over a distance of 1000 yards and take place on the Beira Lake in Colombo. The regatta takes place in the month of October and is usually held on the last Saturday of the month at the Colombo Rowing Club. The Royal Thomian Regatta is the oldest inter-school rowing regatta in Sri Lanka, with Royal being the first school to take up school rowing in the country and S.Thomas' following suit a few years later.
The Boat Race is still regarded as the most prestigious race of the regatta and is rowed for the Royal Thomian Boat Race Trophy.
The overall winner of the Regatta is awarded the T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy.
Having begun in 1962 'The Regatta' is the 3rd oldest sporting encounter between Royal College and S. Thomas' College, after the Battle of the Blues Cricket Encounter and the Rugby Encounter.

History

Royal College first began rowing in 1953 and was the first school in Ceylon to do so, the first Captain was Alavi Mohomed. S. Thomas' College began rowing a few years later. In the following years the idea of a race between the two schools was agreed upon and in 1962 the first Boat Race was held on the Beira Lake at the Colombo Rowing Club and the Royalist's led by L.A.W. Sirisena beat the Thomians led by C.N. Sirimanne by 1 boat length and were the first holders of the Boat Race Trophy. S. Thomas' won their first Boat Race in 1964 beating Royal by 3 lengths. S.Thomas' continued to win the Boat Race trophy for three years after creating the largest series of successive wins that has not been beaten to the present day.
In 1966, the first Royal Thomian Regatta was held with a line-up of 6 events namely Coxed Fours, Coxed Pairs, and Single Sculls in two senior and junior categories.
Between 1973 and 1979 the regatta was not held due to a dispute between the two schools. The series was revived in 1980 and continues to the present except in 2006 when the regatta was not held.
In 2007 the Royal College led by Maalik Aziz created history by winning all races and winning the Overall Trophy with a margin of 40 points to nil. Royal College created new record timings for most events including lowering the Boat Race Trophy record by 8 secs to 3 mins 11 secs.
In 2008, history was written yet again with S.Thomas' returning the favour in kind in a hard fought regatta of 32-8 resulting in every record being broken. S'Thomas' College led by Manil Salgadoe and Devaan Hallock made most of the records including the Boat race. Royal College managed to scrape in two records to stay in the count in the Junior Coxed Four and the exhibition Junior 'B' Four race.
In 2011, the Royal College Rowing Team led by skipper Chirath Karunanayake added a few more records into the books. Among the records set were;
a) The biggest winning margin Royal 48-04 A new overall course record and the first ever sub-three minute race, for the Senior Four - 2:55, Ajmal Sideek, Jehan Smarasekera, Sanjiva Jayasuriya
c) Junior Four - 3:03
d) Senior Pair - 3:12
e) Senior Sculls - 3:28
f) Junior Sculls - 3:29. S.Thomas' only managed to win the B double and the Junior 'B' four, the latter event carries no points.
In 2015, for the first time in the Royal Thomian history, both crews managed to clock below 3 minutes at the boat race. The crew timings were as follows: Royal College 2:56 and S.Thomas' 2:57.
In 2016, the highest number of trophies won in a regatta was achieved by Royal College led by Kaveen Rajapakse with a new tally of 50-02. S.Thomas' only secured the Junior Scull race worth two points that year. Currently this is the highest margin of victory in the Royal Thomian Regatta history.
In 2018, Royal College managed to get their 4th consecutive win and retain both T. N. Fernando trophy and the Boat Race trophy.
In 2019, The Royal Thomian Regatta celebrated its Golden Jubilee event and was attended by a host of past captains and many well wishers.. Royal College Rowing Crew captained by Sajaad Ajmal was able to retain both T.N. Fernando Memorial Trophy and Boat Race trophies for the 5th year in a row which was the first time either institutions achieved this feat. In another first, the Most Outstanding Oarsman trophy was shared by four oarsmen Sajaad Ajmal, Jehan Hapugalle, Mayukha Gamage & Maliq Hassen each contributing in events worth 20 points in favour of Royal College.

Race Format

All Races are rowed over the distance of 1000 yards on the Beira Lake course.
Each event has specific number of points allotted towards it the aggregate points is equal 40 points, the winner of the each event/race receives these points and at the end of the regatta the school with the highest aggregate of points will be declared the Overall Winner and be the holders of the T. Noel Fernando Trophy.
EventNotationPointsTrophy
Boat RaceA4+12Royal Thomian Boat Race Trophy
Senior Coxless PairsA2-8Freddie Ruax Trophy
Senior Double ScullsA2x8Inaugural Trophy
Senior Single ScullsA1x6Senior Sculls Challenge Trophy
Junior Coxed FoursB4+8Eraj Wijesinghe Trophy
Junior Coxless PairsB2-4Chula Samarasinghe Challenge Trophy
Junior Double ScullsB2x4Revival Trophy
Junior Single ScullsB1x2Ajith Goonawardena Challenge Trophy

In 1999, The Junior 'B' Coxed Fours was introduced but the event carries no points.
In 2008, Senior and Junior Double Sculls will be introduced as exhibition events. In 2009 Senior and Junior Double Sculls were awarded 8 and 4 points respectively, with inclusion of the two doubles sculls the overall regatta will be worth 52 points. A Under 16 Fours event was added on the program and the race carries no points.

Records

Boat Race

Most Outstanding Oarsman of the Regatta

The Oarsman with highest individual aggregate of points at the end of the regatta is awarded the
Most Outstanding Oarsman of the Regatta Trophy.
Previous Winners
* denotes series record
S. Thomas'
Royal