Mount Lavinia Hotel to host famed Two Mile Sea Swim for 76th consecutive year

19^th February 2013: Mount Lavinia Hotel in collaboration with The Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union will host the  Annual Mount Lavinia Two Mile Sea Swim in grand style for the 76^th year on the 2^nd and 3^rd March 2013.

The much anticipated event will witness over 700 swimmers between the ages of 12 years and 70 years from over 20 aquatic clubs across the island take to the waters at the iconic Mount Lavinia Hotel bay on the 3^rd and 4^th of March.

“The two mile sea swim is synonymous with the Mount Lavinia Hotel and its location and is incidentally one of the oldest open water swimming competitions in Asia, having seen participants passing down the title from generation to generation” enthuses Bazeer Cassim, General Manager Mount Lavinia Hotel. “Riding on a rich heritage spanning 200 years, we aim to uphold the time-honoured traditions of Mount Lavinia Hotel through our association with the Two Mile Sea Swim, a much looked forward to event in our calendar”.

          “The popularity of open water sea swimming has risen significantly during the last few years, more recently being raised to the status of an Olympic sport” notes Nethru Nanayakkara, General Secretary, Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union. “Our goal is to take this event to even greater heights by providing opportunities for sports enthusiasts to make the best of recreational activities in an environment conducive to endurance sports of this nature”. The Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union is the governing body of Aquatic Sports in Sri Lanka for the aquatic sports of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming.

          This year will see the unveiling of the annual Two Mile Sea Swim mascot 'Wallace the Whale' in keeping with the competitive and fun spirit of the event. The mascot is based on the magnificent Blue Whale which has now become a common sight along Sri Lanka's coast and taking our destination further by making it a global hot spot. Hence entwining it as an iconic symbol of good luck for an event of such caliber is indeed appropriate. “We wanted a mascot that would highlight the fighting spirit and essence of such a significant milestone in our event calendar, have relevance to Sri Lanka and prompt participants and visitors to have a “whale” of a time” explains Mahika Chandrasena, Group Manager Corporate Communications of the Mount Lavinia Hotel and Resorts Group.

Wallace the Whale is fictional yet symbolizing the Scottish heritage. The name Wallace is a Scottish surname fits appropriately to the Scottish affiliation to the foundation of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. (Sir Thomas Maitland: 2^nd Governor to Sri Lanka, a Scottish nobleman who was the founder of Mount Lavinia in 1806.)