The Story Behind the Trophy

Sampath Ranawaka joined Maliyadeva College in 1985 and the cub scouting section of the Maliyadeva Scout Group three years later. He rose through the troop to become one of its most respected senior scouts. He was a senior prefect, played for the college rugby team, and was known above all for his love of the exploring competitions the troop ran each year.

He passed away on 29 May 1997, at just seventeen. Two years later his fellow scouts held the first exploring competition in his name, the Sampath Ranawaka Memorial Challenge Trophy, and the troop has kept it going since.