Senglea end 13-year wait to complete clean sweep in Victory Day Regatta

Senglea ended a 13-year-wait to secure the Victory Day Regatta after coming out on top in the Open category.

The Yellow-Reds’ success in the senior category capped a memorable day for the Cottonera city as they also secured the major honours in both the ‘B’ category and the female race.

For Senglea, this was their 24th title success and more than makes up for their disappointment in the Freedom Regatta where they were denied overall victory in controversial circumstances.  

However, this year’s edition of the race will also be remembered for the wrong reasons due to the huge delays in the start of the regatta, with the organisers facing major challenges.

In fact, the regatta was due to start at 1pm but only got underway two hours later as the starting line was not built properly, and there were also problems with the starting gun.

To cap it all up, the long delays saw the regatta finish in darkness, not the best advert for this popular traditional sport.

When racing eventually started, Vittoriosa enjoyed a bright start as they topped the opener when they topped the Tal-Midalji race.

Their quartet, formed by Kieran Zammit, Antoine Brignone, Clayton Darmanin and Sven Refalo, combined well to collect the opening 20 points. Senglea and Cospicua followed in second and third place, respectively.

The second race of the category was the Frejgattini with Cospicua delivering a commanding victory with rowers Matthia Calleja and Mel Magro, as well as coxwain Thias Bugeja, on board, crossing the line ahead of Senglea and Marsa, with Vittoriosa being disqualified.

In Race 3, Senglea took the honours in the Dgħajjes Tal-Pass ahead of Vittoriosa after a strong showing throughout the whole race.

The rowers were Charvon Gatt and Matthew Micallef, a race that put them eight points ahead of Vittoriosa with two races left in the Open category.

Senglea turned on the screw in the penultimate race when they managed to prevail in a thrilling three-way battle with Cospicua and Vittoriosa.

In the end, Davison Micallef and Denilson Long showed great resilience to fend off their opponents’ challenge to open a commanding 16-point lead over Vittoriosa with one race to go.

The final race, held in complete darkness, Vittoriosa, needing a win at all costs to keep alive their hopes of overall success, were off to a blistering start but slowly Senglea fought their way back and managed to leapfrog Cospicua for second place to ensure they secured overall victory.

RESULTS

OPEN

TAL-MIDALJI – Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua.
FREJGATINI – Cospicua, Senglea, Marsa
TAL-PASS B’ŻEWĠT IMQADEF – Senglea, Vittoriosa, Kalkara.
KAJJIKI – Senglea, Cospicua, Vittoriosa.
TAL-PASS B’ERBA’ MQADEF – Vittoriosa; Senglea, Cospicua.

Final standings: Senglea 68, Vittoriosa 60, Cospicua 34, Kalkara 6, Marsa 4.

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B

TAL-MIDALJI – Senglea, Marsamxett, Vittoriosa.
FREJGATINI – Senglea, Birżebbuġa. Vittoriosa.
TAL-PASS B’ŻEWĠT IMQADEF – Cospicua, Senglea, Vittoriosa.
KAJJIKI – Marsamxett, Cospicua, Senglea.
TAL-PASS B’ERBA’ MQADEF – Birżebbuġa; Vittoriosa; Marsamxett.

Final standings: Senglea 48; Vittoriosa 40; Marsamxett 32; Cospicua 28; Birżebbuġa 24; Kalkara, Marsa, Siġġiewi 0.

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WOMEN

FREJGATINI B’ŻEWĠT IMQADEF – Senglea; Cospicua; Marsa.