Cheered by a surging crowd of people including domestic and international tourists, the fifth round of the Champions Boat League (CBL) here put brakes on Tropical Titans winning spree, with Coast Dominators emerging first on Saturday.
Tropical Titans, which had topped in all the four previous legs of the pioneering CBL, finished second here in the race where all three finalists rowed neck-and-neck from the starting point to the end, much to the thrill of the 83,000 spectators, organisers said in a release here.
At the end of the photo-finish, Raging Rowers was declared third.
The three heats, too, by the shallow stretch of the Arabian Sea saw the nine snake-boats setting afire the 960-metre track along upscale Marine Drive.
Coast Dominators (3:17.99) finished an inch or two ahead of Tropical Titans (3:18.16), while Raging Rowers clocked 3:18.41.
The fifth leg at the placid Ernakulam backwaters had its spirit no different from what the CBL teams displayed at the previous edition, rowing upstream along the Moovattpuzha river in semi-hilly Piravom, also of Ernakulam district.
The trend of high-suspense continued along the fringes of the Arabian Sea this evening, what with the first three teams decided within a range of mere 42 microseconds.
The Kochi round saw Raging Rowers timing the days best score at 3:12.14 to win the coveted Nerolac Excel Fastest Team of the Day besides five extra points.
At the end of CBL round-5, Tropical Titans continue atop the overall list with 68 points, followed by Coast Dominators (37 points) and Mighty Oars (34).
Raging Rowers occupy the four position in the tables with 33 points.
The three-month CBL, being organised by Kerala Tourism, is slated to hold its finals on November 23 at down-state Kollam.
The inaugural race was at Alappuzha on August 31.
Saturday's races were between the first Goshree Bridge and Marine Drive boat jetty.
The CBL,billed as a game-changing initiative, seeks to professionalise Keralas largely scattered snake-boat races, while commercialising them without losing the conventional spirit.
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