By IANS
Alappuzha (Kerala) : As a nine-member team of women from Dubai went past the finishing line in their ‘snake boat’, they raised their oars in jubilation over the second consecutive victory in the Nehru Trophy Boat Race at the Punnamada lake here Saturday as the rain gods too toasted their achievement.
Julie Amer, a Briton, led the team that included two of her compatriots, a woman from New Zealand, another from Australia and four Indians.
All dressed in Kerala sarees, they were joined by 30 women from Alappuzha to form the team for the Thekkinodi section – the women’s event in the 750-metre boat race.
Each snake boat used in the race is rowed by at least 30 women.
In 2006, Amer led a group of eight foreign women who teamed up with 27 local women to win the boat race.
For the past three days Amer and her teammates – brought here from Dubai by K.S. Vikraman of Jayshree Travels – practised seriously to repeat their feat.
As their boat went past two close competitors, rain felicitated the victors of the 55the Nehru Trophy.
The boat race commemorates first Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to the state in 1952 when a pageantry of boats accompanied him on his trip from Kottayam to Alappuzha, 120 km from Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The first race was conducted impromptu at that time in his honour. Nehru, thrilled by the performance of the oarsmen, jumped into a snake boat disregarding security arrangements and protocol. The boat proceeded to the jetty with him on board.
On returning to Delhi, Nehru gave the oarsmen a silver trophy – a replica of a snake boat placed on a wooden abacus, with an inscription and his signature.
This trophy is given to the winner in the snake boat category (chundan vallom), the most prestigious event in the entire boat race.