K. Sammugeswaran of Sri Lanka Artillery and Wathsala Herath of 7th Regiment emerged champions at the 55th Army Road Race – 2020 concluded last Saturday,. The 125 participants, representing 17 Regiments, started the race at Army Headquarters entrance and ended at Panagoda Army Cantonment covering approximately a distance of about 22 km. Sri Lanka Artillery and Sri Lanka Army Women Corps won the overall men’s and women’s titles at this event.
The Sri Lanka Army Athletic Committee, chaired by Major General Harendra Ranasinghe, Director General, Operations conducted the event. The 15 female marathon runners of the Army also participated at this event which started off at 6.00 a.m. during a simple ceremony and ran via Diyatha Uyana, Battaramulla, Malabe, Athurugiriya, Habarakada, Godagama along the High Level road up to the Panagoda Army cantonment before the race ended near the Army Gymnasium at Panagoda.
At the finishing point near the Army Gymnasium Panagoda , the day’s chief guest, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, providing a catalyst to athletic skills of young soldiers, together with Major General Jagath Gunawardena, Chief of Staff and Chairman, Sri Lanka Army sports Committee, Major General Harendra Ranasinghe and several other senior officers were present .
The Army Road Race Championship, has a long history having started in 1951 has todate produced many national and international level Army marathon runners to the country. This event held on par with international standards is generally observed by a panel of judges of national and international recognition, following arrangements, made by the Army Athletic Committee.
The chief guest Army Commander Lt General Shavendra Silva said the 55th Army Road Race is important because this sort of an event helps uplift sports talent of Army personnel at a time sports has emerged prominent. By continuing this championship event, we have helped to groom Army sportsmen and women to represent at national and international games. Despite COVID-19 threat, we continued to have this race in order to sustain their athletic skills “he remarked.
Overall Championship - (Men’s Category) - Sri Lanka Artillery
Overall Championship - (Women’s Category) - Sri Lanka Army Women Corps
Men
1 A Shammugeshwaran (Artilery Regiment) 1:10.16
2 PAASM Gunasekara (Sinha Regiment) 1:10.47
3 EMSR Wijewickrama (Gemunu Regiment) 1:11.16
Women
1 Wathsala M Herath (7th Regiment) 1:25.15 2 BMS Sewwandi (5th Regiment) 1:28.57
3 MGITK Sugathapala (Signal Force) 1:31.04
