Niluka Back With Seasonal Best In Netherlands

Olympian marathoner Niluka Rajasekara returned to her near best after a disappointing season in 2016 clocking a seasonal best and second best time ever of 2 hours 47.26 seconds to finish sixth in the Enschede Marathon in Netherlands.

It was cold  less than 5 degrees and was raining but determine Olympian did not gave up even though her pace was affected after half way mark where she finished just  02.26 minutes outside qualifying standards for the forthcoming IAAF World Championship in London .

Niluka who represented Sri Lanka at the 2015 World Championship, became the first Sri Lankan female marathoner to qualify for the Olympics when she represented the country in Rio, but could not come up with any impressive performances in 2016.

But this year she started with a personal best at the Army half marathon, before clocking her seasonal best  running in difficult cold weather conditions of 3-4 degrees compounded by heavy rain after the half way mark, which did not help her cause. She is hoping for more races this year to produce substantial performances and hoping for a medal at the Asian Marathon championship later this year.