Senglea wins Regatta

Senglea yesterday won the Victory Day Regatta shield for the third successive year and for the 18th time in the club's history, while Cospicua won the shield for the reserves.

Regatta races have been held for over 100 years, Anthony Caruana, the secretary of the regatta clubs association, said.

Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Senglea, Kalkara, Marsa and Marsamxett took part in this year's event. But in the past other localities also participated, among them Gozo, Marsaxlokk, Birzebbuga and Paola.

The presentation ceremony this year was held amid tight security after the violent incidents that marred last year's event. Marsamxett and Senglea had been running neck and neck on points and in the final race the Marsamxett oarsmen claimed that the Marsa boat had rammed them at the start, spoiling their chances of winning.

In the ensuing fracas, trophies and medals were kicked into the water and policemen injured. The Marsamxett regatta club and Marsa oarsmen were fined for the trouble caused and the 10 Marsa oarsmen taking part in the last race were banned from this year's races.

The atmosphere this year appeared calmer, but the police made a heavy presence and did not let their guard down. Oarsmen and members of rival clubs congratulated each other after each race and chatted amicably.

Mr Caruana explained that new, stiffer rules had been introduced and oarsmen could be fined as well as disqualified for periods ranging from 13 months to 37 months for crossing another boat's path or ramming another boat.

The event was highly organised, with representatives of each club watching a video of the last seconds of each race to ascertain that the ranking given by the organising committee was correct.

Oarsmen have to row a distance of about 1.2 km in the Grand Harbour, which was closed to large vessels for about eight hours because of the event, which costs the National Festivities Committee some Lm8,000. Each of the 10 races takes under six minutes to complete.

Three regattas are held annually, but the main one is the one held yesterday. Another regatta is held on March 31, Freedom Day, and a regatta for youths has been held every June for the past five years.

The shields were yesterday kept locked up in the offices of the old customs house and were only taken out before they were presented.

The tension could be seen on committee members' faces as each race got under way, with mobile phones ringing and information about who appeared to be leading being exchanged between supporters on the Valletta side and those straddling the walls and shores of the Three Cities on the other side of the harbour.

The event went smoothly overall, with a first little hitch occurring in the seventh race when oarsmen on the Vittoriosa boat stopped rowing for an instant, losing the second place to Cospicua.

A kajjik belonging to the Marsamxett team overturned at the end of a race after the oarsmen jumped into the sea. Civil Protection Department staff and police from the Administrative Law Enforcement unit rushed to fish the oarsmen out of the water and tow the boat ashore.

By the seventh race, it was clear that Cospicua would win the shield in the reserves section while Senglea were leading with 20 points over Marsamxett.

Tensions were about to escalate in the last race, when Senglea had practically already ascertained they would be retaining the shield. The Marsamxett boat hit the Senglea boat and the Senglea oarsmen lost precious seconds when they stopped rowing but then went on to place third. The Marsamxett boat was disqualified.

In another incident towards the end, Mario Meli, who was one of the official judges, fell into the water as he was moving from the quay to one of the judges' boats.

When the shields were presented by Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, Senglea supporters, who were holding several cardboard shields similar to the official one they had won yet again, started cheering and shouting at the Valletta supporters, who were empty handed.

Some threw their cardboard shields into the water and called on the Valletta supporters to retrieve them if they wanted to have a shield of their own.

The Cospicua supporters too waved the shield in the faces of Valletta supporters. The rivalry was this year mostly between the Cottonera and Valletta sides, as the latter had been boasting they would win this year's event.

The first three placings of each race are as follows:

Dghajjes C tal-Pass reserves: Cospicua, Marsamxett, Senglea.

Dghajjes A tal-Midalji open category: Senglea, Cospicua, Marsamxett.

Kajjikki reserves: Cospicua, Marsa, Marsamxett

Frejgatini open category: Vittoriosa, Senglea, Kalkara.

Dghajjes A tal-Midalji reserves: Cospicua, Marsamxett, Marsa.

Dghajjes C tal-Pass open category: Marsamxett, Cospicua, Vittoriosa.

Frejgatini B reserves: Marsamxett, Cospicua, Vittoriosa.

Kajjikki open category: Senglea, Marsamxett, Cospicua.

Dghajjes B tal-Pass B reserves: Cospicua, Marsamxett, Vittoriosa.

Dghajjes B tal-Pass open category: Cospicua, Vittoriosa, Senglea.