The crew of the Mostar Boat Association will be at the start of the boat marathon in Metković again this year.
The first edition of this amateur sports competition was held in 1998, and in the past 26 years, the boat marathon has grown into an interesting sports and tourism event that attracts an increasing number of spectators and participants.
The race takes place in the lower part of the Neretva river, from Metković to Opuzen, the length of the course is 22.5 kilometers, and the crew of each boat consists of 12 rowers.
According to Darko Karačić, president of the Mostar Boaters’ Association, Mostar boatmen have been participating in the race since 2020, initially as a team of the Croatian Mountaineering Association Prenj, and from 2022 they are competing under the name Mostar Boaters’ Association.
“We spent these four years learning. We did not have the best results, but the main thing is that we are not the last and the achieved results give us the motivation to go on and progress”, said Karačić.
After “dry” preparations in the winter months, twenty rowers from Mostar went out to Lake Mostar these days to prepare as well as possible for the race that takes place on the second Saturday in August.
Given that it is an extremely demanding sport (the race itself lasts two and a half hours), most athletes from Mostar, professionals and semi-professionals, who can meet the challenge, took up rowing.
For the secretary of the Mostar Boat Association, Grgur Ćorić, this will be his fifth appearance at the boat marathon.
“The feeling in the ship is fantastic, from the start in Metković to the finish in Ploče. It is something that everyone should try, experience. There will be around 35 teams at the start, the race is 22.5 kilometers long, with the possibility of replacing up to six rowers at the eighth kilometer. The race takes place in August in the afternoon, when the temperatures exceed 30 degrees, and it is really a big challenge to row this race to the end”, said Ćorić.
Mostar’s boatmen achieved their best result in 2022, when they crossed the finish line in 24th place, and Ćorić points out that the very fact that they managed to finish that race is a great success, given that at one point water penetrated their vessel.
“We hope that we can get into the top 20 this year. This is a team sport, everything depends on the team and everyone has to give their best in order to achieve a top result. There are twenty of us here and we will see who will endure the hard preparations during these four months until the start of the race”, added Ćorić.
Source: akta.ba
