Veeyapuram Chundan rowed by the Village Boat Club (right) racing to victory in the 10th Presidents Trophy boat race held on Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: SURESHKUMAR C
The Pallathuruthy Boat Club (PBC) retained the Champions Boat League title for the fourth consecutive time by topping the overall table, despite finishing second in President’s Trophy, which marks the sixth and last round of the championship.
Rowing the Karichal snake boat, PBC won a cash prize of ₹25 lakh as well as the trophy at the races held on Ashtamudi Lake.
The Village Boat Club (VBC) came first and the Nirnam Boat Club third at Saturday’s races, marking an exciting climax to the nine-team championship organised by Kerala Tourism.
VBC, rowing Veeyapuram, clocked 3.53:85 minutes, while PBC finished in 3.55:14 minutes and the Niranam Boat Club (rowing Niranam snake boat) in 3.55:64 minutes.
All the three boats put on an exciting show, while VBC rowed with a steady edge and never let their two rivals overtake them. At no point did VBC, rowing Veeyapuram, pop the chance of a photo-finish.
PBC, fearing the prospect of losing the CBL title if they finished third, rowed with all energy. The team had sensed a threat from Niranam, which was ahead initially in the finals. Towards the last lap, PBC staged a dramatic surge that enabled it to finish second — with a margin of mere 50 microseconds.
In fact, it was by mere microseconds PBC became the winner in the championship’s earlier races at Kainakary, Karuvatta and Kayamkulam. Rivals VBC even won at Pandanad, yet PBC clung on with an overall lead as the team never dropped below the second place.
Thus, adding nine more points from the Kollam race, PBC succeeded in clinching their fourth CBL title with 58 points overall, which was one digit above VBC. Niranam got 48 points.
The prizes were jointly distributed by Mayor Prasanna Ernest, N.K. Premachandran, MP, and MLAs M. Mukesh and M. Noushad. The teams finishing first, second and third in the league matches won ₹5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, and ₹1 lakh, respectively.
Based on the overall performance in the six races, the topper got ₹25 lakh, the runner-up ₹15 lakh and the team finishing third ₹10 lakh. After each match, as a bonus, all the participating teams received ₹3 lakh, and the snake-boat owners got ₹1 lakh each.
Published – December 21, 2024 08:58 pm IST