Edathua: With yet another boat race season on the horizon, clubs across Kuttanad have begun gearing up for the much-anticipated Champakulam Moolam boat race, which marks the start of the water regatta season in central Kerala. The race, held for the Rajapramukhan Trophy, is scheduled for July 9, the Moolam day in the Malayalam month of Midhunam, on the Pampa River at Champakulam.

In addition to the nine competing snake boats (chundan vallams), the race will also showcase boats in the veppu and odi categories. As part of the preparations, the Kuttanad Tehsildar held a review meeting, and the water festival committee for this year has already been elected.

With less than a month remaining for the race, most boat clubs and snake boat committees are treating the Moolam Boat Race as a trial run ahead of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race, the flagship event in Kerala’s boat race calendar. Several clubs that have qualified for this year’s edition of the Champions Boat League have already signed contracts with various Chundan Vallasamitis (snake boat committees).

Following these agreements, each snake boat has undergone a thorough inspection, and necessary maintenance and repair work have been carried out to address any identified damage or wear and tear.

Meanwhile, major boat clubs have already begun selection trials to identify oarsmen for their teams. Once the selection process is complete, practice sessions for the Moolam event will begin. The delay in launching full-fledged practice races has been attributed to the severe flooding that struck the region in the last week of May.

The leading clubs are now moving their boats and teams to previously identified locations for conducting trials. Over the next few weeks, the rhythm of vanchipattu (boat songs) will echo across the backwaters of Kuttanad, transforming the region into a vast arena where trained oarsmen compete for glory, hoping to be crowned the speed kings of Kerala’s inland water bodies.

As the snake boat committees race against time to restore their boats for the upcoming regatta season, clubs that finished in the top three positions last year have already begun devising strategies behind-the-scenes strategies to clinch the top spot this time.