Despite the gray sky and drizzle, after 50 years a rowing regatta was run again in the Riachuelo. The competition, which also celebrated the 98th anniversary of the Almirante Brown Regatta Club, involved more than 80 rowers.
"This is a very special date for us because very close to our anniversary the rowers wanted to come because this place has something special, it has mystique. There are no people who have not heard of La Boca,"Roberto Naone, vice president of the Almirante Brown Regatta Club, told Telam.
The boats that competed in the race are watertight so there is no risk of sinking. Photo Telam
The return of the Riachuelo to the rowing sports calendar was motorized by the Almirante Brown Regatta Club, which has been organizing recreational paddling in the area and now managed to move to the Riachuelo basin the sports activities that usually take place in the Tigre Delta.
The meeting began at 9 o'clock, with a round trip of 5,600 meters from the Vuelta de Rocha to the Old Pueyrredón Bridge.
The rowers who competed in 17 pair and double pair boats with helmsman and double boats made the replacement in the middle of the course, where there were representatives of Admiral Brown, but also of the Nahuel Rowing, the Tigre Boat Club and the Club de Regatas La Marina, all of Tigre, in addition to the Training Institute of the Prefecture of Zárate and the Raggio de Núñez Technological Schools.
Although there is still pollution in the waters of the Riachuelo, the landscape changed in recent years. Photo Telam
From a boat, wearing an orange vest and blue hat, Naone controlled the departure of the rowers.
The leader highlighted the magnitude of the event and said that it is "a great honor and responsibility, to organize an event of this magnitude in a place as mythical and emblematic as La Boca."
The organizers claimed that the area did not have a similar sporting event since before the tubing of the Maciel stream in the early years of the '70s and, even then, consisted of boat races of just 500 or 1,000 meters on the track.
80 rowers participated in a regatta in the Riachuelo. Photo Telam
On the climatic condition to navigate in the basin, Naone considered that although "the ideal is that there was sun, the good thing is that there was no wind and it really allows better navigation."
From a floating platform, Cristian watched the departure of the boats and with a loudspeaker and a chicharra warned the rowers to leave the starting point.
"At the moment everything went well. All the teams left in a timely manner. Nothing can go better," said Cristian while monitoring a list of the teams participating in the event.
The event was organized by the Almirante Brown Regatta Club. Photo Telam
The boats that compete are "watertight" and have a very high bow that allows them not to sink in the face of an inconvenience.
The difficult mission of paddling in the Riachuelo
"We had run out of places to row. So we teamed up with Fundación por la Boca. And we began to think of the rowing project as a proposal within the framework of environmental recovery. A kind of 'rowing where you can't', as a challenge to generate a favorable opinion to navigation," Naone told Clarín prior to the meeting.
"From then on we started sailing with a Prefecture boat. In 2022, 15 of our rowers were federated to the Argentine Rowing Association. That's when we decided to start competing and then the idea of doing it in the Riachuelo came up," Naone said.
Gabriel Lorenzo, director of Institutional Relations of the Foundation, said that for twelve years the entity has been "promoting awareness of rowing along the Riachuelo".
"The refusal to navigate the river was at the time by the precautionary measure of the Court and was understandable. Because there were sunken ships, other pollution and and it was evident that you could not navigate. Luckily, now the conditions are not the same. We have been working for a long time because we believe that the recovery of the Matanza-Riachcuelo basin is not only environmental, but also productive and cultural. For that, navigability is fundamental," said Lorenzo.
Antolín Magallanes, general director of Political and Social Management of the Matanza Riachuelo Basin Authority (Acumar), also celebrated this activity.
The participants of the regatta received a medal and an allusive t-shirt, designed by the students of a technical school in Flores. Photo Telam
"The Matanza Riachuelo Basin is the cradle of national rowing. The Almirante Brown Regatta Club had its headquarters in the Arroyo Maciel, which was later piped and lost," he said.
The participants of the regatta received a medal and an allusive t-shirt, designed by the students of a technical school in Flores.
The vice president of the institution highlighted the role of the club of which he is vice president and emphasized with a smile: "We are the only nautical citizens of the City of Buenos Aires."
"We designed a short regatta and the rowers want to come because this place has something special, it has mystique. There are no people who have not heard of La Boca, "repeated the rower, while controlling from a boat the development of the competition.
With information from Télam
MG
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