Venetian Rowing Teams Compete for Lake Flag in Garda Race
Great anticipation surrounds the third race of the Palio delle bisse. The seventeen crews, competing from the Venetian style rowing to traditional Venetian rowing, arrive in Garda after the first two events, part of the tournament contested for the Lake Flag edition 2001, which were held in Brescia waters.
Description of the race and favorites
This evening’s nighttime race promises to be highly competitive, as it will be up to the Venetian boats Ichtya from Peschiera, Bardolino, and Garda—who dominated the first two events—to show if they truly will be the queens of this 34th edition of the tournament, which involves not only rowing clubs from the great lake but also rowers from Lake Iseo.
The trio from Verona currently tops the leaderboard with a good margin over the chasing crews, led by Portesina from the Portese bisse group and Clusanina from Lake Iseo.
Regulations and current situation
However, this advantage does not guarantee that the trio will claim the top rowing trophy of Garda, due to the new rules which emphasize that the last race, scheduled in Bardolino on August 11th, will crown the first queen of the new millennium.
On the final day, the top six boats based on the standings accumulated in previous races will compete for the Flag, which has been permanently housed at the Associazione remiera di Peschiera for two years.
Expectations and prospects for the last races
All eyes tonight are therefore on who will be the race winner, after the Bardolino bisse inaugurated the series in Salò, while last Saturday in Gardone, the quartet of rowers from Peschiera competing with Ichtya took victory.
In these two races, Garda’s crew (Ferdinando Sala, Matteo Pincini, Michele Bertoncelli) and the coxswain Alberto Malfer) finished in third and second place respectively, and it’s not impossible that at home waters, supported by a large local crowd, they might find that crucial push needed to win tonight.
To achieve this, Garda’s boat must either win or at least rank second in its heat to qualify for the six-boat final of the evening.
Much will depend on luck, as the water numbers for both the qualifying heats and the final will be assigned through a draw.
It’s also possible that the three leading boats—Ichtya, Bardolino, and Garda—might be drawn in the same qualifying heat, which would inevitably prevent one of the three from participating in the final.
This represents the worst-case scenario: losing those critical points needed to secure a place in the elite group for the concluding race, which, as specified by the new regulations, aims to win the Lake Flag.
For now, the Verona-based trio of top crews can only cross their fingers, hoping that, as in the two previous finals, all three will be in the water competing for supremacy through row and beat of the oar.
