KOCHI: Cheered on by a surging crowd of people from various parts of the globe, the fifth round of the Champions Boat League (CBL) in the port city of Kochi put the brakes on Tropical Titans’ winning spree, with Coast Dominators emerging first on Saturday.
Tropical Titans, which had topped in all the four previous legs of the pioneering CBL, finished second here in the race where all three finalists rowed neck-and-neck from the starting point to the end, much to the thrill of the 83,000 spectators. At the end of the photo-finish, Raging Rowers were declared third.
The three heats, too, saw the nine snake-boats setting afire the 960-metre track along upscale Marine Drive. Coast Dominators (3:17.99) finished an inch or two ahead of Tropical Titans (3:18.16), while Raging Rowers clocked 3:18.41.
The fifth leg in the placid Ernakulam backwaters had its spirit no different from what the CBL teams displayed at the previous edition, rowing upstream along the Muvattupuzha river in semi-hilly Piravom, also in Ernakulam district. The trend of high-suspense continued this time too with the first three teams decided within a range of a mere 42 microseconds.
The Kochi round saw Tropical Titans timing the day’s best score at 3:12.14 to win the coveted ‘Nerolac Excel Fastest Team of the Day’ besides five extra points. At the end of CBL round-5, Tropical Titans continue atop the overall list with 68 points, followed by Coast Dominators (37 points) and Mighty Oars (34). Raging Rowers occupied the four position in the tables with 33 points.
The three-month CBL being organised by Kerala Tourism began is slated to hold its finals on November 23 at Kollam. The inaugural race was at Alappuzha on August 31. Today’s races were between the first Goshree Bridge and Marine Drive boat jetty.
The day’s topper secured R5 lakh, followed by Rs 3 lakh and R 1 lakh for the second and third finishers. Kerala Tourism Secretary Rani George and film actor Tovino Thomas gave away the awards.