Four new relay race records were established at the Ritzbury Sir John Tarbet Junior Athletic Championship at the Diyagama Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium yesterday. At the end of the second day, six records, including two individual records, were set up, while one meet record was equalled in the Under 13 Boys’ 200m event by Trinity athlete K.J.D.Y.J Jayasuriya clocking in at 25.6 seconds.
In the Boys’ Under 12 finals, S.D. Dissanayake of Dharmaraja College, Kandy, who set a new record in the 80m heats with 10.1 seconds, took first place in the final of the same event, but couldn’t improve on his record, finishing in 10.3 seconds.
U.M. Sansala of Ambagamuwa MV (2703) finished first in the girls’ Under 15 800m final event. M.G.T. Abhiseka of Dambulla National School and Dewmini Chamodya of Sujatha MV Badulla won second and third places.
In the Boys’ Under 12 4×100 relay, St. Sebastian’s, Moratuwa, bettered the previous record of 54.7 seconds set by Trinity College. The Sebastianite quartet clocked in 54.5 seconds.
In the Under 13 Boys 4×100 relay, St. Joseph Vaz, Wennappuwa, clocked 51.4 seconds to break the record (52.2 seconds) previously held by Royal College.
Meanwhile, Joseph Vaz’s Under 14 Boys’ team set a 4×100 relay new meet record of 47.5 seconds to finish first. The event’s previous record was held by Sri John Kotalawala MV, Kurunegala, with 47.8 seconds.
In the Under 15 girls’ 4×100 relay, a new record was set by Ambagamuwa MMV team with 51.6 seconds, beating the previous record of 52.2 seconds marked by Ratnawali BMV Gampaha.
Senior coach Lakshman Hapuarachchi, who is also the Assistant Secretary of the Schools Athletic Association, said, “The second day noticed good progress in the Meet, with more records being set in the relay events. We can expect more records on the final day; the youngsters are more competitive after the lapse of two years.”
Nilupul de Silva, Marketing Manager of CBL Foods, will be the Chief Guest. Sri Lanka Athletics Association President Dr. Kusala Fernando, Athletic Supervising Director Sampath Jayasena, and senior officials of the School Athletic Association will grace the Awards Ceremony today.
