Cricket legend Ian Botham stays at The Kingsbury on ‘Big Walk’

Friday, 22 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

“Sri Lanka has been my toughest walk yet, but I’m already planning the next one,” said Ian Botham, after completing the final leg of his walk across Sri Lanka, in Seenigama on 8 November 2013. The walk lasted eight days across 160 miles, along with some of Botham’s sport colleagues from around the world.

Botham chose The Kingsbury as his preferred place of stay during this epic venture to raise funds for charity. Since the mid-1980s, Sir Ian has taken part in a series of high profile walks, including John O’Groats to Land’s End, the nine valleys in Wales and the Hannibal Walk in the Alps. However, commenting about his walk across Sri Lanka, he confessed that this had been one of the most “craziest” he has ever undertaken. He has always claimed to have a strong connection with the country, especially since visiting the island soon after the devastating effects of the Tsunami that unfairly thieved thousands of lives within moments in 2004. He conceded that the many things he saw during the visit convinced him to take this huge step in walking for the cause of charity, with the support of Laureus Sport for Good Foundation of which he is a member. Having stayed at The Kingsbury during his previous visit, Botham not only commended the establishment on its warm hospitable service, excellent choice of cuisine and of course its location in the heart of the cosmopolitan city of Colombo overlooking the sea, but also stated that he would return back to its splendour. True to his word, on his awareness creating campaign he opted to stay here and enjoy the rest of his stopover before flying to Australia to cover the Ashes Tournament. It is noteworthy that The Kingsbury recently won the World Luxury Hotel Awards 2013 and was recognised as the best Luxury City Hotel in the Indian Ocean. The hotel is proud to have accommodated Ian Botham, one of the finest all-rounders of all time and the fastest to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets.