The oarsmen and oarswomen of Sri Lanka Bolgoda Lake Rowing Club (BLRC) performed exceptionally well at the 68th Annual Amateur Rowing Association of the East (ARAE) Regatta, hosted by the Madras Boat Club and held at the Adayar River in Chennai, India.

The annual Far Eastern Amateur Rowing Association Regatta (FEARA) Regatta, is now held concurrently with the ARAE Regatta.

The ARAE Regatta is conducted by the Amateur Rowing Association of the East (ARAE) which was formed in 1933. The first regatta was held the same year.

The Annual ARAE Regatta is considered to be one of oldest and is one of the most competitive regional club regattas.

The Far Eastern Amateur rowing Association (FEARA) Regatta for the past few years has been a part of the ARAE Regatta.

The regatta is open only to its member clubs. Among the member clubs, six are over 125 years old.

The Bolgoda Lake Rowing Club (BLRC) was extended a special invitation to take part in this year’s regatta in recognition of the contributions made towards the development of rowing in Sri Lanka and also taking into account the high standard displayed by its oarsmen and women. There were over 120 oarsmen/women from over 10 clubs from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at this year’s regatta. Only BLRC took part from Sri Lanka. Considering the high standard displayed, at the 68th Annual General Meeting of the ARAE held in Channai, BLRC was unanimously affiliated to the ARAE/FEARA and accorded full member status.

In the competition, Lasantha Welikala and Chanaka Talpahewa won the FEARA Double Scull event (gold) and were awarded the Karachi Regatta Challenge Trophy.

This is the first time that a crew from Sri Lanka has won this prestigious trophy. In the women’s category Swarnamali Wijesinghe and Sachitra Jayatilaka won the Double Scull event (gold). This is the firs time a crew from Sri Lanka has won this event.

Unfortunately, the BLRC women’s team comprising Subashini Kularatne, Hiruni Mendis, Swamamali Wijesinghe, Chalani Ramanayake and Nathira Wijemanna had to settle for second place (silver) after a very close race. The women’s pair of Subashini Kularatne, Chalani Ramanayake won the silver while women’s sculler Vinuri Wickramasekara won the bronze. BLRC emerged a very close runner-up in the Women’s Overall category. In the Men’s pairs, the BLRC crew of Arandara and Nuwan won the bronze.

The BLRC team was managed by Sudip Naha while the President, Sithira Wickramasekera accompanied the team to India.

The performance of BLRC is more commendable, considering the club has been in existence only for about a year. The ARAE committee unanimously agreed to offer the option for BLRC to host next year’s edition of the regatta. This is a clear indication of the confidence in the BLRC by the ARAE.