A 164-year-old will clash with a 166-year-old on the Rabindra Sarobar waters. Of course, if the water levels permit.
Two century-old rowing clubs, the London Rowing Club (LRC) and the Calcutta Rowing Club (CRC), will celebrate 100 years of friendship and reciprocal membership in the last week of this month.
To celebrate the milestone, an International Friendship Regatta will be held at CRC between November 20 and 25.
The club is gearing up to welcome members of LRC, Southampton Rowing Club, Molesey Rowing Club of UK, Auckland Rowing Club, Australia, and Victoria Lake Rowing Club, South Africa. “Nearly 60 rowers are participating in this friendship regatta,” said Chandan Roy Choudhury, the club secretary.
The club, in preparation for the five-day programme, has imported 18 boats from a US-based company Wintech which has a manufacturing base in China.
“The boats came from China. We had a fleet of wooden boats that were purchased from Pune. These lightweight imported boats will certainly give an edge to our oarsmen,” said Captain Giri, who trains rowers at the club.
The club has spent Rs 2 crore on purchasing and transporting four Fours (a boat that has four rowers with one oar in hand each), which can be converted to Quadruple (four rowers with two oars each); four Pairs (a boat that has two rowers each with one oar), which can be converted to double scull (two rowers with two oars each); four Single Scull (one rower with two oars); two training boats and four para boats for physically challenged rowers.
The club has some heritage boats of 1940 and 1960 vintage too. Now it remains to be seen if the Rabindra Sarobar water levels permit these imported boats to be launched and rowed. Frantic parleys between officials of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the custodians of the lake, and club representatives are on to find a solution.
“Normally, during winter, the water level at the Sarobar depletes,” said Roy Choudhury who is hopeful that water levels will rise soon.
The first two days will be devoted to coaching and training where senior LRC oarsmen will train CRC rowers, including children from Hope Foundation and Future Foundation.
In the last three days, the regatta will happen, including the Pagal Regatta, a signature event of CRC.
It was when Roy Choudhury was visiting LRC at Putney earlier this year that Andrew Boyle, the honorary secretary of LRC, put forward the idea of the friendship
regatta.
He and his archivist had shifted through old newspaper cuttings to discover the 100-year reciprocal relationship between the clubs.
Boyle said: “Certainly by the 1920s LRC had a very large number of members listed as being abroad, as many as 200. The affiliation with CRC was extended to affiliations with a network of rowing clubs. These were Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Rangoon, Manilla, Calicut and Miri RC. The affiliations allowed LRC members to row when posted overseas, while members of these clubs could row when they were on leave in
London.”
An 1865 newspaper article supports the idea of a very early link between the clubs. It states that CRC rowed in the colours of the LRC.