12 teams participate in the inaugural edition of the Merchants, Bankers and Clubs Regatta at Madras Boat Club
Chennai, June 25, 2017: On a hot, windy Saturday afternoon, 12 teams representing corporates and clubs fought for top honours at the Merchants, Bankers & Clubs Regatta at the Madras Boat Club. The Regatta, revived after a decade in the 150th year of the Madras Boat Club, saw some closely fought races in the sculls, double sculls, coxed pairs, and coxed fours categories for men women and mixed crews.
The Overall Championship Trophy was won by Madras Gymkhana Club with an impressive 68 points with Nataraj Venkat & Associates coming in second with 27 points. This included individual and team ergometer (rowing machine) championships with Gymkhana winning the women’s individual event and Andhra Social and Cultural Club winning the men’s individual event.
The finals saw sculls and coxed fours races with less than a second difference between the first and second places.
Marking the 150th year celebration of the prestigious Madras Boat Club, the club has revived the traditional Merchants, Bankers Regatta to include Clubs, making it now “The Merchants, Bankers, & Clubs Regatta. The 12 teams underwent training for 8 weeks to compete for the trophies in different categories as well as the overall Championship Trophy.
Mr. Rabindranath Rao, Organiser - Merchants, Bankers and Clubs Regatta, Mr. James Joseph Captain of the Boats the Madras Boat Club and Mr. S. Radhakrishnan, senior Member of Madras Boat Club were the driving forces behind the revival of this age old event which started in 1900.
The Merchants, Bankers and Clubs Regatta organised by the Madras Boat Club saw participation from corporates and clubs like Kalyansundaram & Associates, Air India, Madras Design Works, RR Donnelley, Nataraj Venkat Associates, Cloud Cherry, Nexus, Andhra Club, Madras Gymkhana Club, Madras Cricket Club, Royal Madras Yacht Club and Madras Boat Club.
The Merchants, Bankers & Clubs Regatta has brought together a group of individuals with diverse strengths. As the training progressed, participants began to combine their complementary strengths, recognise their weakness, and forge strong teams that have the ability to win. It is an excellent opportunity, through this sport of rowing, to build character and become better human beings that truly value team work.
Rowing is an important team sport and its characteristics can be applied to everyday life and business, exponentially more so than most other sports. Precisely everyone and everything has to be perfect; the height of the oar handle, the deftness of grip, the rate at which one moves up and down the slide, the timing of when the oars enter and exit water need to be perfectly synchronised.
Speaking on the Merchants, Bankers & Clubs Regatta, Rabindranath Rao said, “We would like to thank all the corporates and clubs for the encouraging response and participating in the rowing challenge. Rowing builds physical health and mental strength including increased power and endurance. We have immense talent in our country and we aim to train more individuals so that they can represent the country at international competitions.”
