Rowing past a history of 150 glorious years

Anyone who walks past the Kotturpuram bridge in the mornings or evenings would find it hard to miss the rowers on the Adyar river. Across different age groups, these are members of the

Madras Boat Club

, which is located on the banks of the Adyar. This is one of the oldest clubs in the city that has stood the test of time and has been an integral part of the city’s history. Now, the club is celebrating its 150th year of existence.
Throwing light on its founding in Madras, the secretary of the Madras Boat Club, Farid A Husain says, “Just like cricket, this is a pure English sport.

Rowing

came to India with the British. After the East India Company was formed, the traders wanted to continue with their hobbies and that’s how rowing was introduced here. Wherever the British colonies were set up, be it in Calcutta, Pune or Madras, the British also introduced rowing. And that’s how the Madras Boat Club was set up in 1867 — this one is the second oldest in the country, next only to the Calcutta Rowing Club, which was started in 1864. The British companies here thus continued the tradition of rowing. But this place, on the banks of Adyar, wasn’t really where they started the boat club in Madras. Originally, it was set up in Ennore. Back then, when Britishers were here, everything was centred around Fort St. George. Unfortunately, the place is highly polluted these days. It was only in the 1890s that the club moved to this place.”
Apart from the 75th ARAE (Amateur Rowing Association of the East — an open category regatta for men and women) which was organised earlier this year, there are few other major events that will be organised by the club in June and July, leading to the culmination of the 150-year-celebrations. Merchant and Bankers (M&B) is one of the regattas that the members are excitedly looking forward to. “The tradition of organising M&B started way back in 1900. But we didn’t have it the last 10 years. This year, as part of the 150-year-celebration, we wanted to revive it and it’s happening this year on June 24. We’ve also changed the format slightly this time and have invited clubs in the city including, Madras Gymkhana Club, Royal Madras Yacht Club and Madras Cricket Club. And now it is called Merchant, Bankers and Clubs (MB&C) Regatta,” says James Joseph, the captain of boats, Madras Boat Club. Following this, in July, there will also be International Regatta and Madras-Colombo Regatta. “For the International Regatta, we’re expecting teams from Austria, Australia, Canada and the UK,” he adds. Madras-Colombo Regatta, too, is quite a prestigious one. “It is as prestigious as the renowned Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. The men’s fours event in this regatta is the second-oldest inter-club boat race in the world after the Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race. Madras and Colombo take turns in hosting the regatta each year. Winners of the men’s overall receive the Deepam Trophy, whereas, the Adyar Trophy is awarded to the women,” says Farid.
The president of the club, MR Ravindra says that the club is also planning to buy new boats from China before the International Regatta. “That’s another main thing that’s happening as we complete

150 years

. We’re getting 15 boats belonging to different classes from China before the International Regatta. It should cost us around `50L. We should be able to manage the finances for that using the internal accruals and donations from our institutional members.”
The focus of the club continues to promote the sport as much as possible in the city. “That’s why we organised the school regatta this year as part of the 150-year-celebrations. We had 18 schools participating in it. We also prepare rowers for national events. Now, some of our boys and girls have left for the sub-junior nationals,” says James. The club offers memberships in different categories. “Though rowing membership, which is a life-time one, is a bit expensive, students till the age of 21 can come and learn rowing for just about `4000 for an year. Also, we organise summer camps for school kids and that’s again for nominal fees. Apart from that we also have corporate memberships, temporary members, etc,” sums up James.

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