Record participation as Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championships commence  

By Reemus Fernando

Record number of participants forced organizers to postpone a number of events scheduled for the afternoon session on day one of the Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championships at Diyagama yesterday. Generally it is the Junior Championship which causes headaches for the organizers as juniors come in their thousands for the multi legged event. But when the senior championship started after a lapse of two years at Diyagama yesterday officials had to postpone several track events scheduled for the afternoon session .

The age category 200 metres events and the Under 16 long jump event saw hundreds of participants lining up under a hot sun. The Under 16 boys’ 200 metres witnessed 34 heats being held while the corresponding girls’ event had 22 heats forcing officials to introduce quarter-finals which were not previously scheduled.

The Under 16 boys’ long jump had almost 150 participants competing for medals.

Generally the senior championships attract between 2000 to 3000 participants annually. But this year’s championship has received record number of entries. Chaminda Perera, the treasurer of the Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association said that over 5000 athletes had sent entries for the senior championships.

The large numbers forced officials to postpone all age category 4×100 metres relays, the 200 metres semi-finals and all hurdles events scheduled for the afternoon session to the second day.