Gayanthika, Samantha win cross country amid Covid19 concerns

R.M.S. Pushpakumara (Blacky) and Gayanthika Abeyrathne regained their Cross Country Championship titles at the 46^th National Sports Festival 2020 held at Race Course, Nuwaraeliya on Sunday (15th) amid Covid19 concerns in the country.

Pushpakumara who sustained an injury while the race was on and had to give up after leading for most part of the race last year, made sure he ran through to the finish line this time around as he clocked 34 minutes 07.10 seconds.

Gayanthika who didn’t take part last year, came roaring back this year to win the event in a time of 40 minutes 16.80 seconds.

The cross country championship was held as an open championship for the second successive year, where the winners of the men’s and women’s categories were awarded Rs 50,000/- each, with the second placed athlete getting Rs 40,000/- and third Rs 30,000/-.

The championship was originally scheduled to be held as a South Asian event on 15 February, but was postponed to 15 March 15 amid Coronavirus fear, and subsequently run as a National event as the Organizers were reluctant to postpone it once again and went ahead with the race yesterday as planned despite most of the sports in the country as well as the world, having been postponed.

Results

Men

1. Samantha Pushpakumara (Western) 34:07.10 sec, 2. T. M.E. Tennakoon (Uva) 34:09.57 sec, 3.  M. Sivarajan (Central) 34:22.37 sec, 4. Dhanushka Maduranga (Central) 34:28.77 sec, 5. Manjula Wijerathne (Eastern) 34:47.39 sec, 6. A.L. Shrimantha (Western) 34:48.60 sec, 7. J.K. Bandara(Central) 35:02.84 sec, 8. Nilanka Alwis (Sabaragamuwa) 35:05.46 sec, 9. M.G. Abeyrathne (Western) 35:07,65 sec, 10. S.R. Wijewickrama (Sabaragamuwa) 35:13.33 sec

Women

1. Gayanthika Abeyrathne (Southern) 40:16.80 sec, 2. K.M. Malindra (Western) 40:21.04 sec, 3. Lanka Ariyadasa (Sabaragamuwa) 40:30.20 sec, 4. Velu Krishanthini (Central) 42:43.92 sec, 5. N.M. Nandasena (Eastern) 43:48.89 sec, 6. S.D. Liyanage (Sabaragamuwa ) 44:09.70 sec, 7. Iresha Fernando (Western) 45:25.24 sec, 8. Manjula Kumarasinghe (Western) 46:02.58 sec, 9. Devindi Fernando (Western) 46:33.71 sec, 10. Nilushi Fernando (Western) 46:56.27 sec