The Exciting Nehru Trophy Boat Race of 2013

As in every year since the time of its inauguration, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race 2013 also witnessed many participants and tourists. It was held on 9^th of August, in Punnamada Lake in Alleppey, Southern Kerala. There were many participants among which, Shreee Ganesh Chundan, the snake boat of the St Francis Boat Club, Harripad won the 61^st edition of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race 2013. They turned out to be hard competitors as this is the second consecutive time that they have won the trophy.

 This year Arunkumar had captained the Shree Ganeshan snake boat. In the year 2012, the boat was captained by Jiji Jacob Pollayil under Freedom Boat Club, Kainakary. Awahar Thayankeri and Anari Chundan completed the race in second and third position respectively.

After completing the race in the first place, Ganeshan was honoured with the silver trophy that was donated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952 with his signature imprinted in it.

The race consisted a total of 22 snake boats also known as chundans and 41 other country boats. This year the race was inaugurated by Governor of Kerala, Nikhil Kumar and Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi was the chief guest on the occasion.

Some information about the Nehru Trophy Boat Race

The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The tradition of the boat race started in 1952 after Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first Prime Minister of the country visited the place. Since then, the race is organized every year on the Punnamda Lake, near Alappuzha, on the second Saturday of August.

During the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru the villagers of the region had held an unprepared boat race to honour his visit in their place. Nehru had donated a silver trophy to the winners of the race and since then the race has been named after him.

On the day of this fiercely fought boat race, the tranquil and peaceful atmosphere of the lake is transformed into a charismatic and noisy one as the place is visited by around 2 lakh people, including tourists from foreign countries who come to watch the spectacular race. There is no intimate rivalry between the villagers of Kuttanad but a victory at this boat race for their village boat is something to be cherished for months to come.

The chief attraction of the competition remains the snake boats, which are locally known as Chundan Vallam, which means Beaked Boat. The boats are named as snake boats because of its structure that is long and narrow in shape and which is around 36 to 42 meter in length.

 The best part of the race is when the boat is rowed by one hundred oarsmen at the same time. The boat is steered by four key helmsmen and it also consist a team of musicians that fulfil the character of floating cheerleaders, as these musicians sing songs that are set on the rhythm of the stroke and drumbeats.

In 2012, women participants were seen for the first time, these women entered the race with four men rowing support.