The 65th Nehru trophy boat race held at Punnamada lake here on Saturday provided moments of agony and ecstasy. It also gave occasion for gloom, mostly owing to the flawed arrangements at the starting point.
The Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society, the organising body, had faced challenging many times in the past due to errors at the starting point. Disputes over the calculation of timings right from the start had resulted in hostile reactions from the boat clubs and rowers on several occasions earlier.
The organisers had entrusted a private agency to set up a new device at the starting point to ensure a flawless start in the 2017 race. The irrigation wing officials in-charge of monitoring the performance had expressed full confidence in the contrivance.
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The officials had described it as a foolproof system, but the actual performance brought the demerits of the device to the fore. In fact, the new device played spoilsport, upsetting the entire schedule and giving rise to acrimony among the participants.
The competitions in the preliminary rounds had begun in the forenoon and the final race was expected to be over by 6 p.m. The defective starting system led to undue delay and the finals could be arranged only after dusk when there was little light at the venue to watch the men in action.
Kerala Rowing & Paddling Boat Club Association had presented a model of a starting device two decades ago to the organisation and was implemented from 1995 onwards, said C.T. Thomas, the association president. “Faults had occurred in the system at the implementation stage subsequently in the absence of experts to handle it,” he said. He promised to handle the system with the help of people with adequate expertise.
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“The system used on Saturday was set up by spending over ₹10 lakh. Apart from a troubled starting, the recorded timing went wrong as the starting time was not accurate. Thus, the final count was also erroneous,” he argued.
More preparations and funds would be required to organise the races with élan. Experts in the field are of the opinion that a permanent body functioning round-the-year should oversee the arrangements of the race much ahead of the event. The need for making flawless arrangements is significant, especially in the wake of the organisers’ plan to conduct a league of boat races akin to sports contests in football and cricket, from next year, aimed at attracting larger participation of teams as well as people over a wider area.