KOCHI:
A close finish in the previous round of Champions Boat League (CBL) has injected fresh competitive spirit to the country’s first IPL-style backwater race that will have its fourth leg in Piravom on Saturday.
Tropical Titans have been performing consistently well at the three-month event that began on August 31, yet they can’t afford to be complacent considering the neck-and-neck finish the CBL saw towards the end of the September 14 leg in Karuvatta. At the League’s third leg held near Harippad in Alappuzha district, Tropical Titans timed 4:12.11 to remain atop the CBL rankings, but the victors were only inches ahead of Coast Dominators (4:12.90) and Mighty Oars (4:13.80) who emerged second and third respectively along the one-km track.
“This only shows the CBL is hotting up,” notes a top official of the Kerala Tourism, which is organising the nine-team CBL with a total of 12 boat races on weekends. “It looks certain that there will be more thrillers ahead.” The CBL final is at Kollam on November 23, overlapping with the President’s Trophy Boat Race.
At Ernakulam district’s Piravom, 30 km east of this city, the teams will race against the water current at the Moovattupuzha river. It took no less than 12 hours of pulling using tugs for the snakeboats to be brought to the venue, organisers informed.
The traditional Piravom Boat Race, which began in 1958, has had a chequered history. Financial issues led it to take a couple of breaks towards the 1980s, which was its most vibrant period when a couple of boats were rowed by fisherwomen. Another break followed. The race resumed in 1996, but that was a one-off. Subsequently, 15 years later, Piravom Boat Race began again — in 2011, courtesy the local panchayat. That went on till 2015. Now, after four years, 2019 is a comeback year.
Currently, after three rounds, Tropical Titans top the list with 40 points by winning all the CBL legs (at the Punnamada lake in Alappuzha, Thazhathangadi river in Kottayam and Leading Channel at Karuvatta). Coast Dominators and Mighty Oars stay second with 21 points each, while and Pride Chasers (20) is in the third position.
The winners of the day secure 10 more points and Rs 5 lakh, followed by 8 points and Rs 3 lakh for the team finishing second. The third team will get 7 points and Rs 1 lakh. The team that finishes fastest in both heats and finals will earn 5 bonus points.
The team securing the fourth position will get 6 points, fifth position 5 points and so on. The team coming last in a boat race will get one point. The five other CBL teams are Raging Rowers, Backwater Warriors, Thunder Oars, Backwater Knights and Backwaters Ninjas.
All participating teams are entitled to Rs 4 lakh per match. The overall winner of the championships is entitled to Rs 25 lakh, followed by Rs 12 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for the second and third prize winners.
The races will be broadcast live. Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Asianet Worldwide, Asianet Plus, Hotstar, ETV Andhra Pradesh and ETV Telangana will beam the event for an hour from 4 pm.
Tickets can be booked online through ‘Book my Show’ platform, besides outlets that facilitate spot purchase of tickets. The prices range between Rs 200 and Rs 2,000.
The Piravom leg will be followed by races on October 5 at Kochi’s Marine Drive in downtown Ernakulam. The rest of the schedule goes thus: October 12 (Kottappuram, Thrissur district), October 19 (Ponnani, Malappuram), October 26 (Kainakari, Alappuzha), November 2 (Pulinkunnu, Alappuzha district), November 9 (Kayamkulam, Alappuzha), November 16 (Kallada, Kollam district) and November 23 (Kollam, along with President’s Trophy Boat Race).
The CBL, billed as a game-changing initiative, the CBL (www.championsboatleague.in) seeks to professionalise Kerala’s largely scattered snake-boat races, while commercialising them without losing the conventional spirit.
