Date:26/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/26/stories/2007062653900200.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

Countdown to Champakulam boat race begins

Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA: More than 400 years after it began, the Champakulam Moolam Boat Race is finally getting a professional makeover.

The popular boat race, which signals the beginning of the boat-race season in the State on June 30, will have several new features this year including a website dedicated to the event.

That is not all. The event being held on the Pampa at Champakulam, which will have contestants from Alappuzha, Kottayam and Kollam districts, will have more colour added to it in the form of different uniforms for all the participating teams.

While oarsmen will have these uniforms to catch the eye, the contest will have a difference this year in the form of separate tracks for each boat. No more chaos, so to say.

Further, while the cash prizes and bonus for the contestants are expected to be hiked this year, students and women will have separate competitions in the smaller ‘thekkanodi’ boats.

The boat that will perform best in the mass drill will be given a trophy instituted in the memory of popular boat-race mass drill master the late Jose Pushpamangalam.

A cultural procession and public meeting, which would be inaugurated by Kavalam Narayana Panicker, would be held at Champakulam Porukara Central School on June 29, Mr. Chandy said.