Tropical Titans rowed their snakeboat to victory at Ashtamudi Lake in a photo-finish final at the 12th leg of the Champions Boat League (CBL) to score 173 points overall, emerging winners of the inaugural edition of the regatta.
Raging Rowers came second, gaining a narrow edge over Mighty Oars that ended third in a close race that marked the finale of the championship modelled on IPL cricket. The victors had a lead of mere 11 milliseconds over their immediate rivals while the team that came third was just 13 milliseconds behind the runners-up.
Tropical Titans emerged victors with a timing of 4:33.69 minutes along the one-km track, while Raging Rowers clocked 4:33.80 and Mighty Oars, 4:33.93. The final round of the CBL coincided with the annual President’s Trophy Boat Race (PTBR) that began in 2011.
Fastest Team prize
The ‘Nerolac Excel Fastest Team of the Day’ also went to Tropical Titans with the best timing of 4:21.50 in the heats. The team had earlier scored hat-tricks in the third round at Karuvatta (September 14), in the eighth leg at Kainakary (October 26), and the 11th leg at Kallada (November 16).
The overall tally: Tropical Titans (173 points), Raging Rowers (86), Mighty Oars (76), Coast Dominators (75), Backwater Knights (60), Pride Chasers (50), Backwater Warriors (37), Thunder Oars (28), and Backwater Ninjas (26).
Last weekend at Kallada, the penultimate round of the all-Saturday CBL, Mighty Oars had shared the third rank of the table with Coast Dominators with each team totalling 69 points. Today’s final witnessed a remarkably close race with Coast Dominators not figuring among the top three.
