The climax to Ceylon’s first Independence anniversary celebrations was reached yesterday evening when four of the island’s outstanding athletes drawn from the four major communities completed the last lap of the marathon relay.
They came, dead on time, bearing with them the scrolls containing messages which will lie buried for centuries under the lonely memorial in Torrington Square where Ceylon’s first Dominion Parliament was inaugurated last year.
It was a fitting climax to a historic occasion and unlike the Greek marathon runner, Pheidippides who died at the gates of Athens in the conveying of his message in 490 B.C. The four marathon runners in Ceylon brought their messages and handed them to four girls, also drawn from the major communities, who in turn handed them to the “Father of the Nation,” Mr. D. S. Senanayake to be deposited in the foundation of the Memorial.
(Extracted from Ceylon Daily News, February 5, 1949)
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