Marsa start as favourites to retain the Victory Day Shield they won for the 11th time last year as a new set of rules come into effect this afternoon when another series of Open and Category ‘B’ races are held in the Grand Harbour.
Last month, the Għaqda Regatta Nazzjonali, in its bid to revive the sport, updated the regulations governing the National Regatta as the event’s popularity has diminished in the last decade or so.
The federation is now solely responsible for the technical aspect of the races.
Among the changes introduced is a clear stand on key issues such as collisions during races, doping and more measures to protect oarsmen in case of injuries.
There were also amendments to the rules in an effort to reduce time between races.
Competition went down to the wire in the 2014 regatta as the four-man Marsa crew showed their true worth in the last event – where most points are at stake – to fend off the strong challenge of Cospicua.
The Blues, 17-times National Regatta winners, failed to place among the top three in that decisive race, finishing fourth after being beaten to the line by Marsa, Senglea and Birżebbuġa in that order.
In the end, Marsa topped the standings with 76 points.
Cospicua had to settle for second place on 48 and Senglea, the most successful club with 23 Shield titles, third on 40.
When new Għaqda Regatta Nazzjonali president Joseph N. Grima was elected to his post last spring, he made it clear that local rowing sport needed a major revamp.
“We have to give this sport the push it badly needs to accelerate progress and move forward,” he was quoted as saying.
“We have to be open to changes and be-come more professional in our approach.”
And those words proved to be prophetic as a few weeks later, in the Freedom Day races, chaos reigned supreme when the rivalry between Marsa and Cospicua got particularly tense and Birżebbuġa profited to inscribe their names on the trophy for the first time.
Now that new regulations are in place, Prof. Grima is putting more responsibility on member clubs to become more organised and professional in their set-up.
“Our rowers are committed to their sport and we owe it to them to organise a National Regatta to the best of our ability,” he said when the new rules were announced.
“They also owe it to themselves and each other to abide with the regulations to ensure that they can reap the rewards they worked so hard for.”
Cospicua have a couple of regulars unavailable today but they’re still expected to be among the main challengers to Marsa who retained the core of the 2014 team.
Meanwhile, Senglea will be relying on the same group of oarsmen that finished runners-up in the Freedom Day races while Valletta Marsamxett, Kalkara and Vittoriosa will be keen to place among the podium winners in any of the five Open races besides launching a few promising newcomers into the sport via the Category ‘B’.
Many believe that Birżebbuġa will be the dark horses of the competition.
This summer they’ve added a couple of other rowers to their fold as the Southenders intend to build on their success in March.
The schedule remains unaltered with ten races in programme, five in each division.
Today’s first race starts at 1pm.