This year the anniversary celebrations commenced with a “Pichcha Mal Pooja” yesterday at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya with the participation of the Commander and a cross section of Officers, Other Ranks and SLAF Civilians.
The formal Air Force Day will be celebrated at the Air Force Headquarters today with all SLAF establishments also joining in. The Air Force Day parade will be held at the Air Force Headquarters under the auspices of the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sumangala Dias. After which the Commander will make an address to the SLAF members at AFHQ and at SLAF Station Colombo.
Addressing a media briefing recently the Air Force Commander Air Marshal Sumangala Dias said, “We have a line-up of activities to celebrate the 69th Anniversary of the Air Force and among them the Guwan Hamuda Papedi Sawariya is a premier sporting event in the country where the cycle race goes across a major section of the country. Every time when activities of such nature takes place due publicity has been given by the media to our satisfaction all the time and we appreciate it.”
The annual sporting even the “Guwan Hamuda Papedi Sawariya -2020” will be conducted for the 21st consecutive year in concurrence with the 69th Anniversary of the Sri Lanka Air Force. Over one hundred male and thirty female Sri Lankan ranking/other riders are expected to compete in this race.
The race will be held over three days and will commence on 2nd March from the Air Force Headquarters Colombo. The first leg of the race will be from Colombo to Kandy the second leg from Kandy to Trincomalee, and the third leg from Trincomalee to Anuradhapura. The whole distance covered by the race would be approximately 445 Km.
The final awards ceremony will be held at the Public Grounds in Anuradhapura from 1800 Hrs onwards on the 7th of March 2020 where the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sumangala Dias will grace the occasion with the sponsors and other distinguished guests.
The women's race will commence from Puttalam to Anuradhapura covering a distance of around 110 km on March 07th. All Air Force Bases and establishments would also conduct a tree planting campaign on March 02nd in keeping with the government's drive to address the climate change issues.
“The Air Force chose this cycle race 20 years ago facilitating all cyclists throughout the country to take part in this event and get the exposure and practice in order to compete in the international arena. This year too there are around 150 cyclists participating in this event. In order to minimise clutter we have advised the sports clubs to nominate four cyclists each so that we have the best of the lot competing in this event on par with international standards,” the Commander said.
The Air Force personnel would also engage in community service activities such as cleaning the road-side leading to Sri Pada and renovating many schools, temples, orphanages and elders homes in five districts.
- NN
