KOCHI:
Rowing vigorously against the flow of water in the only such round of the three-month Champions Boat League (CBL), nine snake boats splish-splashed the Moovattupuzha river today, with Tropical Titans yet again finishing first, leaving Mighty Oars and Raging Rovers in second and third spots, respectively.
The fourth leg at the bustling semi-hilly Piravom saw further hotting up of the 12-match series akin to IPL cricket, where this weekend’s races had the first six teams decided within a range of mere six seconds. The topper timed 3:11.08, followed by the second and third finishers clocking 3:13.33 and 3:13.50 respectively, along the 900-metre track in the evening’s final.
Tropical Titans clocked the leg’s best timing with 3:07.80, thus earning the coveted ‘Nerolac Excel Fastest Team of the Day’ and five extra points in the league that is slated to hold its finals on November 23 at down-state Kollam. Only at Piravom, 30 km east of Kochi, the boat league has the racers rowing upstream, drawing huge participation from the local populace.
The CBL, being organised by Kerala Tourism, has all its coming Saturday’s packed with races coinciding with the state’s traditional water festivals. Today’s overlapped with the 1958-initiated Piravom Boat Race, and also saw competitions between the smaller odivallam canoes.
The next leg is in the state’s biggest city of Kochi — on October 5 at Marine Drive in downtown Ernakulam, bringing the CBL to a cosmopolitan population. At the end of today’s Piravom CBL round, Tropical Titans continue atop the overall list with 55points, followed by Mighty Rowers (29 points) and Coast Dominators(27).
Coast Dominators finished fourth (3:14.66) by topping the second losers’ final. Backwater Knights put up an unexpectedly brilliant show (3:15.10) to finish fifth, while Pride Chases stood sixth(3:17.91). In the losers’ final, Thunder Oars (3:36.87) finished first, thus making it to the seventh position. Backwater Ninjas (3:28.35) now stand eight and Backwater Warriors (3:29.67) ninth.
The previous CBL round at Karuvattain Alappuzha district had the top finalists finishing the race with the difference of a fraction of second. The victors Tropical Titans had then timed 4:12.11, 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.
Tropical Titans, as today’s topper, secured Rs 5 lakh, followed by Rs 3 lakh (Mighty Oars) and Rs 1 lakh (Raging Rowers) for finishing second and third, respectively. 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 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for the second and third prize winners.
Prizes were given away to the winners of the CBL fourth round, which was inaugurated by Kerala Tourism Director P Bala Kiran. Present at the function were Thomas Chazhiyadan, MP and Anoop Jacob, MLA besides ex-legislator M J Jacob, functionaries of the local civic body and Arjuna awardee volleyball player Tom Joseph and filmmaker Sajeev Pazhoor.
Tropical Titans (traditionally Pallathuruthi Boat Club, rowing the Nadubhagom snake boat) had won the first round of the CBL on August 31, also finishing first in the 67th Nehru Trophy Boat Race held that evening at Alappuzha’s sprawling Punnamada Lake. They repeated the show on September 7 at the Thazhathangadi Boat Race in Kottayam and a week later at Karuvattanear Harippad.
The races are being routinely broadcast live, and will continue to be so during the rest of the legs. Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Asianet Worldwide, Asianet Plus, Hotstar, ETV Andhra Pradesh and ETV Telangana beam the event for an hour from 4 pm.
The CBL (www.championsboatleague.in), billed as a game-changing initiative, seeks to professionalise Kerala’s largely scattered snake-boat races, while commercialising them without losing the conventional spirit.
Tickets can be booked online through ‘Book my Show’ platform, besides 20 outlets that facilitate spot purchase of tickets. The prices range from Rs 200 to 2,000.
The schedule goes thus after the October 5 stage: 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, President’s Trophy Boat Race).
