“The art and science of running extends beyond your toes”.Running is one of the most common activities which has a recognized positive outcome on your mental and physical well-being. Consequently, it is no privy that running is one of the healthiest activities that we can take on. From the several cardiovascular benefits to the powerful calorie- burning properties, regular running will help you to keep your body healthy and in shape for forthcoming years. Running is an activity for people of all ages and genders. In history, the youngest marathon finisher was only five years old while the oldest one was 101 years old at the time of the race.Each day, millions of people from all around the world go for a run. Some run marathons; some go out for a jogging session, and some set forth into the mountains for an uphill sprint. However, a common fact for all these runners is they are all healthy.Marathon is a long distance race with a normal distance of 42.2 km and a half marathon is 21.1km. It also has a great history from the times of Greek. The Marathon is said to have been inspired by the Greek messenger- runner Pheidippides running from Marathon Athens to bring news from a Greek military victory over the Persians. The first modern Marathon race was held at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
When it comes to the university level, its distance is not 42.2km but it\’s 10 km, which makes the name change into \’Road Race.\’ However, like every other sport, running requires training, adequate equipment and attention. Road Race is also a sport that requires a lot of endurance and when it comes to competition time medical test after practice sessions and before starting, a race is compulsory. In the university level, each team consists of seven members and the marks of the first five places are counted when considering the winning team. Runners are offered with points in accordance with their places-the first receives one point, thus the points received by the first five runners of a team is summed up to offer the team points. The team with the lower sum of points is announced to be the winner of the race.
The Road Race team of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura is remarkable with its talented and courageous members. The team is being trained under the coach, Mr. Lahiru Dilankara who was a former sports science student at the university and an athlete in the Sri Lankan Air Force athletic pool. The present captain of the team is Oshada Dilhan and Dhanushka Bandara acts as the vice-captain of the group.The team’s dedication and hard work have brought many victories to the university making its name shine. Looking at the recent past, the team became the SLUG runners-up in 2019, Inter University champions in 2018 and 2017 and also the runner-up in SLUG 2016.Gayan Sanjeewa, Chaminda Sandaruwan, A.S. Jayajodi, Sameera Lakshan and Oshadha Dilhan; contributors of the J’pura Road Race team has also taken the name of the university not only to the national level but also to the International platform by their participation in the World University Games and World Road Race Championship and Dhanushka Bandara in Colombo Marathon.
Their accomplishments were not achieved easily but with their hard work along with regular practice under the guidance of their coach and also with their team spirit. Running itself has no drawbacks, running –related injuries are more common than we may think. The immense dedication of our team has brought pride to mother J’Pura without considering the risks. So, J\’pura Flames wish them more courage to achieve success in all of the team\’s future endeavors.
Written by : Sathya.S.K. Arachchi
Graphic designed by : Jithmi Rajapaksha